Adam's Light honor those lost to addiction with a candlelit vigil

Fentanyl-related deaths make up 84% of all intoxication deaths in Maryland in 2021, according to the Maryland Department of Health.

In addition to the drug being highly addictive, it also shatters families. That is what happened to Esther Shack-Seivert and Shelley Debelius.

Back in September 2021, Esther lost her son to a fentanyl overdose.

"Two weeks before he passed, he started using again, and unfortunately, what he thought was heroin happened to be fentanyl, and it killed him," says Debelius.

Adam's death wrecked the family. "He died instantly. He still had the needle in his arm. There was no hope at all to revive him," says Shack-Seivert.

One year later, the family created Adam’s Light, a non-profit aimed at helping users seek sobriety and support those in recovery.

On Saturday, the organization held a candlelit vigil outside the Honeygo Run Regional Park and Community Center for those who lost their battle with substance abuse.

Felix Abeson/ WMAR

Photos of loved ones lost lined the lawn of the park and tables. Their hope is that events like these dismantle the stigma associated with addiction.

“It is important for us to put a name to these faces. Their addiction did not define who they were. Adam may have been an addict, but he was so much more. He was so much more than what his addiction was, and so as all these people [the signs] here,” says Debelius.

The event included the reading of names and Narcan training.