When a photo of heroin overdosed Indiana mom Erika Hurt went viral last year, she was humiliated. The shame was made worse by the fact that her infant son was in the back seat. The Hope, Indiana police department posted the photo of an overdosed Hurt to shine a light on the heroin epidemic in their town, and it spread across the Internet like wildfire.
Overnight, Hurt became the face of the opioid epidemic—and the object of a lot of hate. In jail when she saw the photo on the news, Hurt was incensed. “They exposed me and my addiction to the whole world,” the 26-year-old mom told NBC News. “I thought it was terrible.”
Photo: Town of Hope Police
However, Erika Hurt has since changed her mind—and her life. Earlier this week on October 22, the one year anniversary of when she overdosed, Hurt re-posted the famous photo to Facebook, along with photos of her life today. She wants to remember October 22, 2016 not ONLY as the day she overdosed, but also as the day she got SOBER.
