Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Burlington-based weekly Seven Days has launched a yearlong reporting project chronicling the opioid epidemic in Vermont and efforts to address it. The designated writer of “Hooked: Stories and Solutions From Vermont’s Opioid Crisis” is Kate O’Neill, who has personal experience with the crisis: Her sister, Burlington mom Madelyn Linsenmeir, died last October after years battling addiction.
O’Neill described her sister’s struggles in a heartbreaking obituary published locally in Seven Days. It spread quickly on social media, shared by national reporters and celebrities — even Ivanka Trump. Millions of people worldwide read it, and more than 1,000 left online comments describing their own experiences with addiction.
O’Neill described her sister’s struggles in a heartbreaking obituary published locally in Seven Days. It spread quickly on social media, shared by national reporters and celebrities — even Ivanka Trump. Millions of people worldwide read it, and more than 1,000 left online comments describing their own experiences with addiction.