Momentum has been building for two Weyburn women on a mission to ensure addicts have access to naloxone kits after hours.

Janelle Kincaid and Denise Kennedy have been receiving a surprising amount of feedback after going public with their story. Read more HERE.

Kincaid, who lost her husband Damon to an overdose in January, said many who are going through what she did are reaching out to her now.

"I talked to a lady from Okotoks, another two women from here, one from Moose Jaw, another one, from I couldn't believe it, Vancouver, has reached out and said I saw your story."

She said two more from Weyburn offered, "if you need anything from me, I'm here."

Kincaid said anyone with loved ones struggling with addiction is welcome to reach out to her, or to her new friend Denise Kennedy, who is the mother of an addict.

"It's just a vicious cycle and I want anybody and everybody to know that if they need to talk to somebody and they don't want to go to counseling reach out to me right reach out to Denise," she said.

Kennedy agreed.

"We've been through it gone through it, you know if I can help somebody, gladly," said Kincaid.

"Just to know that somebody is going through the same thing," chimed Kennedy. "You know, we get it."

In fact, Kennedy said their first conversation was five hours long.

"And it felt good to talk to somebody that was going through it, because everybody else kind of gives you that blank stare like, that says, 'I don't get it'."

The two made aquaintences recently, for the purpose of this campaign.

Originally, Janelle's late husband Damon had befriended Denise in an effort to help her daughter Ayla.

"Damon was the type of person that would do anything for anybody," said Kincaid. "Not many people know this, but he was the type of person that got several women out of abusive relationships."

"He did some fund raising and got another another woman money so that she could hire a moving company while the boyfriend was at work," she shared. "They came in, they packed everything up. He came home. She was gone." 

 

Photo of Damon Grant courtesy of Janelle Kincaid.

"There's probably four or five women he's helped get out of those relationships, which a lot of people don't know," said Kincaid. "He had the biggest heart. Family was everything. But eventually family wasn't everything. It was getting that next, the next hit the next high just so that he was no longer in pain."

Damon lived in constant pain, and Kincaid said he had been through so much with his pain, as the result of a back injury in 2000, that by the time he was 45 years old, he walked like a 90-year-old. She said while he is now no longer in pain, the family of an addict is always wondering if they could have been helped more. 

In part two of the audio interview, Kincaid and Kennedy share more background on how their loved ones struggles' began, and the toll it takes on the entire family.

Find part one here: "I Don't Want Another Family to Lose a Family Member"