FACEBOOK
Tim Sherman says he received a phone call on Christmas Eve from police officers telling him that 23-year-old Karisten Sherman had died in her bed.
He wrote the 1,700-word essay on Facebook describing the struggle that his daughter had with the drug and described how she had been off heroin for about a year before the tragedy.
And the dad, from Ohio, US, had previously supported his daughter through the Narcan recovery programme.
FACEBOOK
He said: “She even said ‘Daddy, I don’t want to go back to that stuff ever again’.
“I remind her what I told her at the Narcan meeting ‘if you can’t kick the dragon for good I will be the one to zip you up, but I will be with you every step of the way when you need me.’
“At 5.50pm I got the call from the Det at Eastlake Police that my daughter was found dead in her bed from an overdose.
FACEBOOK
“I zipped her up in her body bag and helped them carefully place her on the cot”
Tim Sherman
“I immediately fell to my knees in the snow and began to cry like a baby.”
After Tim received the call, he went to his daughter’s house where he was told to not touch his daughter’s body for safety reasons.
But he asked for gloves and told them: “I’ll be damned if I’m not going to help my daughter one last time, or hug her and let her know I love her.”
FACEBOOK
He added on Facebook: “Well, I kept my word and spread the bag out and carefully placed her in it to say goodbye to her so they can find out what it was that she took.
“I zipped her up in her body bag and helped them carefully place her on the cot.”
Paying the heartfelt tribute to Karisten online, he added: “I miss my daughter so much and I am hurting so much. I know people who have gone through this and have had it worse than we are, but it still effing sucks. I am not looking for pity or trolling for comments.
FACEBOOK
“I just want ALL of you to know that no matter who you are or what you do or how perfect you think someone is, that this heroin s*** can come into anybody’s life and destroy it.
“Do not be blind to this. Do not accept anything less than how you want to handle situations. And do not let this drug fool you!!!”
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit a local branch, see www.samaritans.org for details.