https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-jwbus-1a0380b
Michelle and Trevor Leopold (Michelle Leopold / Fox News)
One Tough Momma
No words can ease the pain of a mother who’s lost her son.
I know what this is like having lost my brother in 1999.
Please join me and Michelle in this hopeful heartache of a story that has given her a new purpose worth fighting for: Love and Life
Michelle shares about her beloved son honestly and completely, to prevent other parents from joining this horrific club none of us chose to be in.
Sadly, Michelle is now her son Trevor’s voice, and often shares this quote whenshe speaks publicly:
“I thought I’d be teaching my son about the world. I never imagined I’d be teaching the world about my son.”
Michelle Leopold is a Mom in all her efforts – and a tough mom at that.
She is the Mom and CMO/Charitable Contributions at six Mom & Pop Ace Hardware Stores in the SF Bay Area.
She’s been a serial Mom Volunteer in everything from Mother’s Club to Cub Scouts, Little League, and especially the PTA.
She’s the Dog Mom to two furbabies, Marley and Maverick, who insist they are smaller than 225# combined.
Most importantly, she’s the Mom to Parker (who just graduated from CSU Channel Islands), age 23, and his older brother Trevor, forever 18.
And Michelle even had “One Tough Mother” tattooed recently on her ankle.
Additional information:
When Michelle realized Trevor had become addicted to today’s high-potency THC, she put all she learned about today’s cannabis in an anonymous website she created in 2016: My Kid Smokes Pot – now what?
When Trevor died, she and her husband immediately decided not to hide behind the shame and stigma usually reserved for substance use deaths – especially since Trevor’s death was likely fentanyl poisoning (confirmed, he had taken a Blue M 30 Oxycodone – not knowing it was a “Dirty 30” laced with what proved to be a lethal amount of fentanyl. This was a poisoning, not an overdose.)
Since then, Michelle has been an outspoken activist, especially in two areas:
- It’s not “just pot”: today’s high-potency THC is dangerous, especially when regularly used by young adults.
- #OnePillCanKill – The danger of today’s street pills to teens, many of whom don’t know about the harms of fentanyl in today’s street drugs, and/or think they are invincible.
Michelle’s efforts have resulted in an emmy-award-winning mini-documentary, One Pill
She started a website in 2021, WeAreNotAlone.Community focusing on education and support for families with similar stories to Trevor’s, but she has been too busy advocating and speaking in these areas to complete & keep the website updated as she’d like.
Additionally, five months after Trevor’s death, Michelle spearheaded the Nar-Anon online family group Hope After Loss, specifically for those who have lost a loved one to the disease of addiction. Almost six years later, over 1,200 Nar-Anon members have come through the virtual Zoom doors of this international support group, currently offering four meetings a week. Michelle recently received her 9-Year Virtual Chip in Nar-Anon.
There is no word for a mother who lost her son, nor are there words to describe the unimaginable pain. For these reasons, Michelle shares about her beloved son honestly and completely, to prevent other parents from joining this horrific club none of us chose to be in. Sadly, Michelle is now her son Trevor’s voice, and often shares “I thought I’d be teaching my son about the world. I never imagined I’d be teaching the world about my son.”
-Michelle Leopold, Trevor’s Mom
Trevor London Leopold: Sunrise 1/30/01 – Sunset 11/17/19 – Forever 18 from a fentapill
FindMichelle Here:
Facebook: Michelle Saevke Leopold
Twitter: @50RandomActs
IG: @Michelle94904
BlueSky: @Michelle94904
Resources/Links:
NarAnonHopeAfterLoss.org
WeAreNotAlone.community
StansHardware.com
Also visit Michelle’s Emmy-award winning documentary One Pill and her Ace Heartware video Ending The Stigma.
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About Shawn Langwell:
Shawn Langwell is an Inspirational Author, Speaker, and Sales & Executive Gap Mindset Coach/Consultant. He has written several transformational books including, Beyond Recovery, Ten Seconds of Boldness and its companion workbook, Morning Motivation, and Chill. He’s also the Past President of The California Writers Club (CWC), Redwood Writers Branch, and Past President of Toastmasters of Petaluma. Shawn lives in Northern California with his wife Crissi, and Maine Coon cat Cleo.
Find him at www.shawnlangwell.com.