He survived Columbine, initially. But really, he didn't. Powerful words from a man gone before his time.
His name is Austin Eubanks, and he was shot int eh hand and knee during the Columbine massacre. His best friend did not, and died beside him in the school.
Eubanks would start his battle with painkiller addiction that day, in the hospital. A battle he lost last Saturday, as the 37 year old was found dead in his Colorado home.
But the very thing that made Eubanks such a powerful speaker appears to have cost him his life. The cause of death has not yet been released by the coroner...but his family released a statement, saying he had "lost the battle with the very disease he fought so hard to help others face."
American absolutely must bridge the gap between physical and emotional pain...and we need to stop feeling ashamed of that pain, as though it is some kind of weakness to be ignored. That pain we are NOT talking about may be the fuel for the epidemic of addiction in this country. So lets start talking about it.
Let's start admitting we feel it, and stop trying to deaden it. www.realconvosd.org
We are losing too many people, and the cycle of pain, continues.