August 12, 2023 Issue, Page 3 of 8

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August 12, 2023 The Elk City News -3 News A Mother’s Love: Elk City man recounts dark journey opiate and meth addiction to sunny days in recovery for the iconic Elk City High School squad, who In the current drug market, fentanyl is com- gotten married to probably the best woman on gloriously denied their chief rival, the Clinton monly added to methamphetamine and other earth. I'd have to be an idiot to mess that up Red Tornados, a state championship. They beat street drugs, so dealers gain a reputation for with her. I knew I needed someone that didn’t the Reds 21-0 at Oklahoma State's grand sta- having a better “product.” use, and this woman does nothing. She might dium, bringing home the lone gold football in Experts advise that users get free fentanyl really be a saint. I've got a good job and a quiet the Elk City trophy case. testing strips to detect fentanyl in other street life. I get to be grandpa, and that is a blessing. He and his classmates were celebrated drugs to avoid accidental overdose. Those can God saved me. They saved me. I say to anyone hometown heroes, and Keel very much walked be found at www.okimready.org. using that there is always hope. Reach out to the part. Keel was light-hearted and funny When Keel’s mother was dying, he says he me. Reach out to someone else. We do recover, around his friends and classmates. Rain or couldn’t grasp the reality of the situation due to and it is the best feeling you will ever have. You shine, a smile was upon his face. His beloved drugs clouding his thoughts. just gotta have your support system, man, how- grandmother Frieda, who had helped tremen- “Even if I would have been sober, I'm not ever that looks,” Keel smiled. dously raising him, was a guaranteed fixture at sure I could have let myself accept what was every game or event. She, too, is now gone, and happening,” he remembered. “But that only she, too, has played an irreplaceable inspiration made it worse. All that poison had always been in his recovery. away to block out the traumas I had endured, so Naturally, he got up to teenage shenani- that was definitely what I was leaning on then. gans, typical of ‘90s-era kids hopped up on top None of that made it not real, though. She died, comedies like American Pie. But, his antics at and I lost valuable time that I cannot get back that time were pretty tame for the time and with her while doing this nonsense. I got on my compared to some of his peers. knees and prayed to God that I promised to get Jamie Keel “Ismoked weed for the first time when I was better if he helped me, and it has all been going 15,” he recounted. “It wasn’t an everyday thing. up since then.” By Shonda Little Sometimes we would drink a little something ‘That, however, does not mean the journey on the weekends. You remember how it was. was easy. His body battled unholy symptoms of (Editor's Note: This piece is part of a joint series didn’t start to escalate until 2002, when detox. He had to isolate from friends — some between the Beckham County Record and Elk City ‘Things I first tried meth. And, honestly, it wasn’t really people he truly liked — because they also bat- ‘News in an ongoing series on the fentanyl and opiate something I wanted to do. I know people say tled this disease. pandemic in Beckham County.) that, but I was trying to look like the cool guy and just did it,” Keel recounted. Keel was also knee-deep in grief for his mom. His heart was broken into “a thousand Get Elk City “Twenty years I lost — just threw away — chasing this high, not wanting to go around my family or real friends before I hit my bottom Before long, Keel was hooked. The drug pieces,” a time that would have normally left him seeking the blissful escape of a good high had taken over his life. Then two years later, the problem escalated when he found opiates even more. Spirit and decided I had to get better. That is when my Driveway through a well-known pain pill. Yet, he remained determined. sweet mother, Sandra Harrison Keel, died on “I switched to Lortabs and man, that was the Also, at that time, he had met the woman October 29, 2020. Her dying wish was for me to worst thing I could have done,” Keel admitted. who would become his wife. Keel waited until get clean. She was only 57 years old, and I know Paint “T couldn't live without them. The withdrawal is he was starting to get in a better head space, I would like to live until 70 to see my children insane, but so is the meth, really. I can’t explain knowing that this woman was remarkable, be- grown. And, at that time, they all resented me. how it takes over your life. I started to gain fore becoming too serious about their relation- It wasn’t good, and I knew it was death, jail, or weight. I was embarrassed about how I looked ship. ‘The Elk City Football Booster Club are of- recovery. Plus, I didn’t want to let that angel of for the first time ever. It wasn’t like I have ever He credits her and their children — a true fering a way for fans to show their support for a woman down. I was gonna get clean for her. had a ton of vanity, but this was like my body Brady bunch blended family — with assisting Tonly wish she was here to see it,” Jamie Keel Elk City football and schools. Residents can get and face were becoming a fat, old man over- in his recovery. Keel also had several friends the EC logo painted on their driveway for $25. sighed. night. I did a whole five years of that — either and family members who were cheering loudly Keel has been an Elk City resident from tip To place an order, complete the Google form on doing them every day or looking for them every for his renaissance. the Elk City Booster Club Facebook page. For to tail. Like so many who enjoyed the laidback day. It was exhausting.” “My kids really wouldn't talk to me much questions about the fundraiser text Kara Lev- upbringing of sun-kissed western Oklahoma Like many people struggling with active ad- when I was using, and I don’t blame them. I had sunsets, he is a Beckham County boy from tip diction, Keel went back to methamphetamine. let them down so many times,” he admitted. erett at 580-821-6419 or Corrie Richardson at to tail. Although he says he was determined not to “But as soon as I started to recover, they came 580-339-2151. During his high school years, his name was use heroin or fentanyl, he admits that it is very back into my life. That is somethingI don't take Spread the spirit, show ECPS support by heard weeldy, making key plays for the Big Elks likely he at least used fentanyl within metham- for granted. Not everyone gets that kind of sec- having the booster club paint the EC logo on football team. He was a key player and started every driveway in town. phetamine at some point. ond chance. I won't take it for granted. I've also FIBER-FAST INTERNET AVAILABLE NOW The internet Elk City deserves. Check your address at dobson.net | 855.5.DOBSON Dobson FIBER