Overdose victim families gather to honor and remember their loved ones who lost the good fight on International Overdose Awareness Day

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark.- The 5th annual Bridge the Gap event encouraged Arkansans to observe International Overdose Awareness Day Saturday.

Of the hundreds of people who gathered to honor lives lost and support those still fighting in their recovery journey was Doug Ballinger, who was here honoring his son Logan Ballinger.

“I know he’s here with me, I feel him all the time, I just can’t hug him,” Ballinger said.

“We mourn their death, and we celebrate their lives because they were wonderful human beings they just made a mistake and it cost them their lives,” Ballinger said.

Logan Ballinger struggled with drugs since he was about 14 years old, his father said. The addiction became apparent when Logan entered his 20s.

Ballinger entered his son into rehab, but he said it did not stick, and when Logan finished rehab, he entered back into old habits.

“Logan was an amazing loving human being,” Ballinger said. “I know if Logan had the chance, he would tell me he didn’t mean for that to happen.”

Debra Thomen was also among the families at the Bridge the Gap event. She was honoring her daughter, Taylor Thompson.

Thompson experienced a tough life as a child being molested, and it went unknown for a while, her mother, Thomen, said.

She went to counseling and was in the avenues of healing.

“We went to counseling, we tried it all, but I missed the thing that was staring me right in the eyes,” Thomen said.

That thing was drug use.

“When everyone was planning their kids’ college experience, I was sending her to rehab for the first time,” Thomen said.

Taylor Nichol Thompson lost her fight to addiction on July 13, 2019.

“The police showed up at my door at 2 a.m., you know that’s something you see in the movies, you don’t think that’s going to happen to you,” Thomen said. “They came ringing the doorbell and gave me the worst news of my life.”

Logan Ballinger had moved to Florida with his mother after rehab ended.

His mother passed away just a few weeks before Mother’s Day. Doug Ballinger said he had to have talked to his son 50 times on Mother’s Day because of how hard he was taking the loss of his mom.

Two weeks later, on May 18, Doug spoke to his son for the last time and said he loved him; Logan said it back.

On May 19, 2020, Doug overdosed on fentanyl and gained his wings.

Ballinger says that this event, while it’s hard, is needed.

“To say I love him and hear it back one more time, it’s a breathtaking feeling,” Ballinger said.

Thomen says it gives them a community of people to lean on in time of need year-round but to celebrate and memorialize with one day out of the year.

They both say it’s for their babies, one of the names and faces on the banners and to help support those still fighting the good fight of recovery.

International Overdose Awareness Day marks the end of the month and starts Recovery Month in September.

16-year recovering addict Christopher Dickie says this event inspires him to continue fighting after hearing the stories of the lives lost.

“We are recovering out loud for the people who are on those banners behind us, and they can’t speak anymore,” Dickie said.

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