'Heroin took him away': Freeport grad's opioid death featured in addiction film
Spreading awareness of opioid addiction, encouraging family support and hope for recovery are ways Dan and Jeannie Sundo keep the memory of their son Kyle alive.
“We’re trying to educate people, trying to get the message out there,” Jeannie Sundo said.
Kyle Sundo, 21, was a 2012 Freeport Area High School graduate.
“Kyle was a straight-A student,” Jeannie Sundo said. “He was a black belt in tae kwon do. He bowled. He went to Pittsburgh Technical Institute for computer-aided design.
“He got mixed up with the wrong people, and heroin took him away.”
He died April 24, 2016, from a mix of heroin and other illicit drugs after battling seven years of addiction.
“He was in and out of rehab, halfway houses,” Jeannie Sundo said. “His whole thing was, as I said in the video, he was broken and couldn’t be fixed. We’d say, ‘You can be helped. You can beat this.’ He would say, ‘No. I’m too far broken.’ ”
The Harrison couple were part of a discussion panel and film produced by Allegheny-Kiski Health Foundation called “Opioid Addiction: True Confessions of Pain, Misery and Destruction.”
It was screened at Highlands High School on Wednesday evening.
The film features the Sundos, Frazer police Chief Terry Kuhns, another officer and about a dozen recovering addicts, including a few mothers and a man who used to sell drugs in New Kensington.
“It’s very rewarding in knowing that my son’s death wasn’t in vain,” Jeannie Sundo said. “We’re keeping his memory alive, and we’re helping to fight for him. This is for him and everybody else.”
The addicts talked about their lives before, during and after drug use. Most talked about the friends and family they’ve lost contact with. Some have overdosed.
“The solution is: Don’t even start,” Kuhns said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were more than 70,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2017, up almost 10% from 2016. Opioids were cited as the main driver of such deaths, being involved in 47,600, or about 68%, of all drug overdose deaths in 2017.
Pennsylvania had the third-highest death rate involving drug overdoses, 44 per 100,000, coming after Ohio in second with 46 per 100,000. West Virginia had the most, with 58 per 100,000.
About 50 people attended the Highlands event including the guest panel, several school district officials and a handful of students like ninth-grader Drake Burford, 15.
“It’s different to see how their stories were and how easily it could happen,” Drake said. He said his fellow classmates would benefit from watching the film.
“A lot of the kids are stubborn and think it’s not going to happen (to them),” Drake said. “They think this stuff is stupid.”
The panel fielded questions about numerous related subjects from the stigma of addicts to recovery to Narcan, a drug used to treat people who overdosed.
East Deer and Highlands School District police Officer Joe Naviglia said he observed an ambulance crew use it on a woman who was near death.
“It’s a miracle,” Naviglia said. “I was sure she was dead. Narcan was (administered) and boom, it does work.”
VonZell Wade was also on the discussion panel. He’s one of the founders of New Kensington-based nonprofit Lost Dreams Awakening, a recovery community organization that helps people with drug and alcohol addiction.
He talked about not giving up on people and encouraged people to be more proactive instead of reactive.
“As long as somebody is breathing, they have a chance of recovery,” Wade said.
John Pastorek, Allegheny-Kiski Health Foundation president and CEO, said the film was edited to 27 minutes from eight hours of footage. Its first screening was in Natrona.
“Any film, I don’t care how good, is not going to cure this problem,” he said. “It should be used as a starting point for discussion between adults and anybody who has contact with a young person.
“The purpose of this film is to reach the young people who haven’t decided to try anything yet.”
Superintendent Monique Mawhinney said she was proud to host the foundation and believes school districts can do more to educate youth on the dangers of opioids and addiction.
“We definitely have to do more education here on a lot of things,” she said. “This was one of my goals, to start doing more parent workshops and training on issues that are impacting kids today. Opioid is an epidemic everywhere.”
She said she plans to have a similar event in the fall as well as talks on vaping, cyberbullying and other topics.
Michael DiVittorio is a TribLive reporter covering general news in Western Pennsylvania, with a penchant for festivals and food. He can be reached at mdivittorio@triblive.com.
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