Paul and Lorelei Milan: Lesson from drug tragedy

In response to the very brave, brutally honest and heart-wrenching May 20 obituary of Clay William Shephard: We would like to thank the parents for opening their personal tragedy and struggle with a son who was addicted to drugs.

So many parents feel the need to cover up the unexpected death of a child from a drug overdose out of embarrassment that they forget they could use the death of their child as a teaching opportunity and help save other families the gut-wrenching pain of losing a child.

As parents of teenagers, we plan to read Clay’s obituary at the dinner table and have an open, honest discussion of the reality of drugs and how it can spiral out of control very fast.

The parents of Clay opened their hearts, their pain, their personal tragedy so that others could learn from it. This is the true definition of good parenting. Our prayers are with the Shephard family, and we thank you for your honesty. God bless you and your family.

This story was originally published May 20, 2015 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Paul and Lorelei Milan: Lesson from drug tragedy."