The needle in the family tree

The needle in the family tree

  
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Video

From After Danielle's Fall

Donna Walker confronts Vincent Zeitlman, one of the last people to see her daughter Danielle alive on the night she fatally overdosed.
From Keeley and the Vial
The mirrored, glass box
Danielle McClain's family knows the battles of drug dependence, and her son's urn in her living room stands as a constant reminder. How do you explain to another parent how to better understand a child in addiction? Danielle explains how she sees it.
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Danielle McClain's family knows the battles of drug dependence, and her son's urn in her living room stands as a constant reminder. How do you explain to another parent how to better understand a child in addiction? Danielle explains how she sees it.

Photos

Keeley and the vialT.J. Ashbaugh, 26, fastens the hair of his stepdaughter Emily, 3, as he puts her to bed on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018, at their home in North Vandergrift. Above on the top bunk, his eight-year-old daughter Keeley talks to them as she waits her turn. Keeley has settled into a life of more structure after the unpredictability that came with both of her birth parents' heroin use. (Stephanie Strasburg/Post-Gazette)

Other stories in this series

 
After Danielle’s fall

The season offered hope for an end to the opioid epidemic. For three families bound together by a deadly night on Broadway, though, it brought six months of searing questions.

  
Keeley and the Vial

From children to grandparents, whole families are caught up in the opioid crisis.

  
Opioids swamping child welfare system

More   stories

Riding OD Road

How an unassuming city neighborhood became the overdose capital of the region

Life and death on Santron Avenue

Latest story

 
Recovery Pains

ODs are down amid signs of recovery in hard-hit neighborhoods, but the region’s opioid binge still leaves a trail of heartache.

Stories submitted by readers

An overdose, a broken heart, and a scholarship fund

My father buried a daughter, and it wasn’t long before we buried him. Through increasing awareness and fighting stigma, we can save others.
Running for a solution

Dave Zamule, of Oakdale, overdosed from heroin one year ago at age 33. We are Dave’s loving family.
Read all of our reader submitted stories

The responses we received had a common theme: The epidemic caused great pain, but also spurred action.