CLEVELAND — Photos and memories are all Katie Krane, a resident of northeast Ohio, has left of her late fiancé, Kellie Clink.
The two shared seven years until Clink overdosed on Aug. 10, 2023.
“Part of me died that day,” Krane said. “She was a force. People, the people that I called and had to tell, some people were throwing up, some people were just collapsing to the floor. She meant so much to so many people.”
Krane and Clink met in recovery. Krane battles drug addiction herself and has been sober on and off for nine years.
“We loved each other so much, we did not want to bring each other into that world. So we would hide it from one another,” Krane said. “Unfortunately, she just hid it too well for me. And the day that I presented her with a drug test is the day she passed away. So I literally had no time to do anything with this information.”
Clink’s death certificate said she died of an accidental overdose involving Methamphetamine and cocaine.
Hugh Shannon, the director of operations at the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office, said in an email to Spectrum News that nowadays the drug supply is tainted, and drugs are likely always cut with other things. Krane thinks she may have been able to save her fiancé’s life had she been with her.
“I think that if there was Narcan ingested, there would be a good chance that she would still be here today,” Krane said.
Naloxone, also called Narcan, is a medication used to reverse the effects of opioids in the body temporarily. It’s been around for decades but in March 2023, the FDA approved the first nonprescription Narcan product, making it so people can buy it over-the-counter.
Michelle Popovich, a resident of northeast Ohio, is 17 months sober from heroin and has been revived by Narcan.
“I had overdosed, everything went black and then I just kind of was thrown back into my body, thrown back into life,” Popovich said. “And I'm sitting here today. So I'm very grateful for Narcan. And it's very helpful and very beneficial.”
Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, with opioids being the most common drug, according to the National Institutes of Health. More than 100,000 people died of an overdose in the United States in 2022. Ohio is at the center of the nation's opioid epidemic as the state has the second-highest drug overdose rate in the U.S. The Ohio Department of Health said 4,915 people died of an overdose in 2022, a slight drop from the state's highest number of 5,174 overdose deaths in 2021.
RecoveryOhio is an initiative out of the office of Gov. Mike DeWine to help save and improve the lives of all Ohioans who are impacted by mental health and substance use disorders. The organization is working to lower those statistics.
“We actually ask people to report to us if they've used Naloxone and it's reversed an overdose,” said Aimee Shadwick, the director of RecoveryOhio. “We know that numbers are under-reported but we've actually had reports of over 15,000 overdose reversals this year.”
RecoveryOhio has distributed more than 200,000 narcan kits into Ohio’s communities so far and is working to get the life-saving medication in all state buildings, at rest areas, colleges and universities, and into the hands of all Ohioans.
"The other thing that's really important about the medication is there's no adverse side effects,” Shadwick said. “So if you come across someone, and they're unconscious, you're not sure if maybe they're experiencing an overdose, there's actually no adverse side effects to administer that Naloxone just in case they experienced an overdose, you could save their life.”
Krane said she carries hers in her purse and doesn’t go anywhere without it.
“Knowing that like a second or two can make a difference, I always have it on me now,” Krane said. “And then I brought some to my employment, showed everybody how to use it. We keep it in our first aid kit there.”
The opioid epidemic is vast, and Krane said an overdose can happen to anyone, anywhere.
“It’s employees, its employers, it's family members,” Krane said. “It's brothers and sisters. It's co-workers. It's like you literally don't know who is possibly in addiction.”
Krane lost the love of her life to an overdose, but she hopes with this education, you don’t have to.
“She sends me signs. She sends me messages on a daily basis to let me know that she is around and brings me some comfort,” Krane said. “If you can possibly save a life. I mean, why not have it on you?”
Narcan is available at stores like CVS, Walgreens, and Amazon, but you can request a free Narcan kit that will be mailed to you by visiting here.