FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV)–“He never met a stranger, there was always a person he was searching to try to help. He loved everyone just the same,” said Scott Doerhoff.
Will Doerhoff was just another average student at the U of A.
But during his freshman year, he got addicted to illicit prescription drugs which led him to heroin.
After his freshman year, his parents put him in a rehab where he relapsed twice.
The second time being the last when he died from a heroin overdose.
“Will didn’t know what he was getting himself into, and before he knew it, it had already taken a hold of him,” said Shannon Doerhoff.
Will’s parents created a foundation in his name and they now speak at colleges at an event called Speak Up and Speak Out.
“The way it went from prescription opioids on a college campus to heroin and the way it happened to our son who was so beautiful in every respect of life. We had to do something to make sure that number one we honored our son’s life but number two that we didn’t allow this to happen to someone else without trying to do something about it,” his parents said.
Will’s father says the Speak Up and Speak Out event came about after Will passed and he got into Will’s phone and saw a group chat with his fraternity brothers who knew will had been exposed to narcotics.
The event features speakers from the DEA and other agencies across the state of Arkansas.
They speak about the growing number of opioid usage among college students and the resources on college campuses that help students with addictions.
Will’s parents have some advice that could save lives for students who know someone with an addiction problem.
They said, “If you know your buddy is doing this, you say something to them. If you know they continue to do it, you go find someone else. Even if that’s law enforcement, because the drugs are so potent and so deadly that you will truly lose them if you don’t say something and you don’t speak up and speak out.”
Story by UATV Reporter Cassidy Gallagher