A year ago, a photo of an overdosing mother that went viral became a graphic symbol of America’s opioid epidemic.
Exactly one year on, however, and that same photo no longer marks the end of another tragic story, but the start of a new story—of hope.
The photograph of Erika Hurt slumped unconscious in the driver’s seat, syringe in hand, shocked her so much when she saw it, that it marked a turning point in her life, she said.
The image had been publicly released by the police to highlight the raw dangers of opioid addictions when they found Hurt had overdosed, with her baby son in the back of a car in Bartholomew County, Indiana.
But it was the subject of the photograph—herself—who got a big awakening when she saw the picture on the evening news.
“They exposed me and my addiction to the whole world,” Hurt, 26, told NBC. “I thought it was terrible.”
A year later, and she is celebrating one year clean.
In a Facebook post exactly one year after the photo on Oct. 22, she wrote: “Little did I know that day, my life was about to change, drastically. Today, I am able to focus on the good that came from that picture.”
The photograph was taken in the town of Hope, by a police officer on Oct 22. 2016, just before medics revived Hurt from her near-fatal heroine overdose with a shot of Narcan. Hope Town Marshal Matt Tallent, released the image to local media.
Hurt had been taken to a hospital and then onto Bartholomew County Jail.
