The shocking family photo that highlighted the devastation of addiction

WARNING: This image may be upsetting to readers.

It's been three years since American mother-of-two, Eva Holland, made the decision to post a family picture that generated a huge reaction online. The Ohio mum lost her partner, Mike, to addiction three years ago, and the image she shared shows Eve and her two children, Lucas and Ava, standing beside their dead father in an open casket. She wrote these words on her Facebook page:

"I'm sure this photo makes a lot of people uncomfortable it may even piss a few people off but the main reason I took it was to show the reality of addiction. If you don't choose recovery every single day this will be your only way out. No parent should have to bury their child and no child as young as ours should have to bury their parent." "This was preventable it didn't have to happen but one wrong choice destroyed his family. I know a lot of people may be upset I'm putting it out in the open like this but hiding the facts is only going to keep this epidemic going. The cold hard truth is heroin kills."

 

"He was a great son, brother, friend but most importantly he was a great dad. He loved those kids more than anything. But as we all know sometimes life gets tough and we make some wrong choices. His addiction started off with pain pills then inevitably heroin." "He said he could handle it, that he could stop on his own and didn't need to get help again. Well he was wrong, last Wednesday he took his last breath. My kids' father, the man I loved since I was a kid, a great son and a great person lost his battle. I just needed to share his story in case it can help anyone else."