Mother of teen who overdosed delivers tearful anti-drug message
Calum Whytock loved listening to the news.
The 18-year-old — who died of carfentanil poisoning April 28 — always kept his mother on her toes while giving his take on the happenings of the world.
A 2016 graduate of Mother Margaret Mary High School in Terwillegar, Whytock had high aspirations.
He wanted to be a lawyer or a politician, his mother said as she shared memories of her son at the school Tuesday.
Mioara Whytock wants to make sure there are no other parents who face this tragedy after she lost her only child to the deadly drug.
“My son will want everyone to know what happened to him so it doesn’t happen to them,” she said as she clutched a blue-framed photo of a smart-looking young man. Every now and then, her voice trembled as she spoke of her son.
She was among the families and police school resource officers who gathered before 670 students at the high school Tuesday to share stories about Edmonton students and recent grads who died of fentanyl and carfentanil overdoses.
Mioara Whytock remembers the “young, bright teenager” — that he was active in sports, that he loved kayaking and dirt biking and hockey, was an avid concert goer and loved watching football games.
She remembers that he loved to travel, was a volunteer for Row for Kids and was so full of life.
Her son experimented with drugs. His parents talked about it with him. He started using drugs in Grade 8 with “some so-called friends,” his mother said. “Over the years, we tried to get him help. He started experimenting with more drugs and more drugs and different kinds of drugs.”
But he didn’t use fentanyl because he did not like it, she said, and he mostly used weed and shatter, a cannabis concentrate. On a few occasions, she said he took Xanax.
He was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 16 and had some other issues, including dealing with the death of his grandmother two years ago.
‘THEY ARE YOUR ENEMIES’
The drugs found in his system included Xanax, cannabis and carfentanil.
His mother said she was sharing his story because “someone who gives you drugs are not your friends, they are your enemies.”
High school students are especially susceptible to drug use because of peer pressure, anxiety and feeling the need to fit in.
Students sat in rapt attention as Const. Brandon Myhre and Const. Cherie Jerebic talked of teenagers who died from fentanyl and carfentanil overdoses.
Street drugs such as marijuana, Xanax, heroin, methamphetamine, ecstasy and caffeine pills have been found with fentanyl in them, Jerebic said.
“Just don’t use street drugs,” she said. “It’s just not worth it.”
Over the years, we tried to get him help. He started experimenting with more drugs and more drugs and different kinds of drugs.