They tried to get her help for 40 days

Plus: Watch out for the Mercers. They're even scarier than the Koch brothers. No images? Click here.       One day last summer in the small city of Huntington, West Virginia, 28 people overdosed on heroin in the span of just a few hours. The media swept in and told the quick version of the story. The tragic tale of young lives loss. The town afflicted by the epidemic. And then just as quickly the media left. Of course opioid addiction didn’t go anywhere. But Max Blau, a reporter for STAT News, an online health and life-sciences publication, stayed on top of the story, in particular, that of the Wilsons, who spent 40 days trying and failing to find treatment for their 21-year-old daughter Casey, an opioid addict. On the 41st day their daughter overdosed and died. We spoke with Blau by phone on Friday to hear how he got the story. How did this story come to you? Before I was at STAT I worked for CNN, where I had reported on the epidemic of overdoses last summer. I ended up going to Huntington and had reached out to several heroin overdose victims. I didn’t get to talk to any of the 28 people who overdosed that day, so we ran a story about the town itself. This was in September. Ten days later Taylor Wilson died. That’s when her mother Leigh Ann reached out to me. She was one of the people I had called but never heard back from. She called to let me know her daughter had died. First we talked off the record. She wasn’t ready to speak to anyone at that time. I listened to what she had to say that day. She told me what had happened. And after that I asked if it was okay to call her back. We got into this habit where I’d call see how she was doing. It wasn’t a matter of, “No, I don’t want to chat.” It was more, “No, I am not ready to chat just yet.” In January, she was finally ready to talk.  What attracted you to this beat?   I’ve written about a lot of different topics throughout my career, but at every step – from alt weeklies to CNN to STAT – I have written about substance abuse. I grew up in a family that has a predisposition to addiction. It’s something I have lived with in terms of seeing people go through those struggles. I feel privileged that people are willing to talk to me, knowing how hard it is for them, how it takes over their lives. In the case of Leigh Ann, addiction killed her daughter, and it’s something she’ll have to deal with for a long time to come. Why this story? Aside from having two parents willing to speak about their loss, what happened to them happened in a state that has the highest drug overdose death rate in the nation. Also both parents were healthcare workers and had a daughter willing to get help, but still they were unable to. They were well placed not just to speak about losing a loved one, but to convey the true sense of the problem that is in West Virginia. Given all those factors, it was something that seemed worthwhile. What part of the reporting did you find most challenging? We did the final portion of the interview in the basement. Leigh Ann and I were sitting on the same couch her daughter had overdosed on and died. In that moment, sitting in that room, it was something that I hadn’t ever experienced. To be sitting in the place where someone died and talking to the person at the center of the story, talking about what it was like to see her daughter that day. It was challenging, but also essential to conveying what Leigh Ann went through.  Want to learn more? Read the story. Love, Nick and Sam     Trump and Politics The Mercers are scarier than the Kochs. More extreme, more controlling. Even Trump needs to watch out. Ivanka Trump says her dad cares about childcare. His budget says otherwise. No one likes the new healthcare bill.  Secretary of State Rex Tillerson defended the State Department decision not to bring the American press corps with him on his trip to Asia, saying he wasn’t “a big media press access person.” Paul Ryan will fulfill his keg-fueled dreams at the expense of vulnerable people with mental illness. Stories that have nothing to do with Trump  This is what will happen when the Queen dies. A group of anonymous anarchists in Portland, Oregon, ― where else? ― have taken their version of anarchy to the streets to help their local communities by fixing unsafe potholes themselves.  Gavin Grimm is the face of transgender rights, but he's also just a regular teen.   A ‘Katrina Girl’ was been inspired to join the military 12 years after a sergeant rescued her.  Candy Let's visit this fast-food corner of Twitter. Long, But Really Good Read "Schockling went to the door, and there was the stranger, holding his right arm across his body, his sleeve and pant leg soaked with blood." Thanks! HuffPost Must Reads features a behind-the-scenes look at how longform journalism is made. We go under the hood. Why did the writer take that unexpected angle? How hard was it to get that source on the record? We’re here to tell that story.  Did you like reading this newsletter? Forward it to a friend. Or sign up! Can't get enough? Check out our Morning Brief or Black Voices newsletters.   The photo at the top of this week's newsletter is of Leigh Ann Wilson at the cemetery where her daughter was buried. It was taken by Max Blau.  ©2016 The Huffington Post | 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 You are receiving this email because you signed up for updates from the Huffington Post. Feedback | Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe   If you would like to stop receiving emails from us, please click below: Unsubscribe