Mount Pleasant Magazine Jan/Feb 2018

84 www.MPtownCouncil.com | www.MPMcalendar.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com feature By Diane Pauldine Wake Up Carolina Brings Attention to the Opioid Crisis O n the surface, losing a child to a drug overdose is no different than losing a child to a sudden accident or sickness. A parent’s grief is undoubtedly just as deep and devastating. But beneath the surface, loss from addiction unfortunately comes with a horrible stigma. It often becomes a family secret that no one talks about and is quietly swept under the rug. One Mount Pleasant mother and her family are talking about it, determined that people know their story and that it brings much-needed attention to the opioid and heroin crisis that has gripped Lowcountry communities. Nanci Steadman Shipman, a longtime Mount Pleasant resident and 1992 Wando High School graduate, never would have imagined she would lose a child to addiction. In July 2016, her 19-year-old son, Creighton, a member of Wando’s class of 2015, passed away from a heroin overdose, days after leaving a rehab facility in Georgia. Reeling from grief and searching for a way to help others, she co-founded Wake Up Carolina, an organization with a mission to help end substance abuse and delineate a path to recovery for those battling addiction. With no formal plan, the group developed as Shipman continued to meet and talk to others about her son. “Shortly after Creighton died, Jason Sandoval, resident agent in charge with the Drug Enforcement Agency An Important Photos cour tesy of Nanci Shipman.