Podcast Host Honors Son Through Media Outreach
“My primary goal is to spread awareness of the dangers of opioids.” – Tony LaGreca
By Luke Schmaltz, VOICES Newsletter Editor
Tony LaGreca is the host of the award-winning Courage to Hope Podcast on WMEX Radio in Boston. Every episode, LaGreca speaks with guests who have experienced the death of a loved one to the opioid epidemic.
On April 10, 2014, LaGreca lost his son, Matthew, to an opioid overdose. This devastating event was the first in a series of circumstances which turned his life upside down and put his will to the test. On his journey, he discovered the gift of grief support and the healing power of helping others.
Emerging Problems
“My son became addicted to opioids in 1995 – he was one of the early ones,” LaGreca begins. “He was playing football for Curry College and sustained a serious neck injury. The doctor wrote Matthew a prescription for 100 Oxycodone pills and said to take three or four per day as needed. I had never heard of this drug before, and like a naive parent, I filled the prescription.”
“Matthew loved football since junior high, was an all-star player in high school, and a top defender on his team. He was told he couldn’t play anymore and was given a bottle of pills at the same time. It was a disaster waiting to happen.”
“His mother, who suffered from alcoholism, was given Valium while she was carrying him, and Matthew was born addicted to it. He was predisposed to opioids, so when they gave him the Oxycodone, he took to it like a fish to water.”
“He went in and out of rehab multiple times and lived on the street. I couldn’t get him to commit to rehab because he was over 18. He died of an acute overdose of methadone. He was going to the clinic, and he was on it for so long it just built up in his system and killed him. His fiancée died the exact same way almost two years prior.”
Matters Worsen
“My mother and Matthew were very close,” LaGreca continues. “She was deeply distraught over his death and decided she did not want to live anymore. She went on a hunger strike and died on July 16, three months from the day we buried Matthew.”
“The same day my mother died; my wife got Lyme disease. She was in the hospital, unable to walk during my mother’s funeral. I was living at the hospital with my wife, going back and forth to the funeral home preparing the service for my mother. My wife was in the hospital for 70 days and couldn’t walk when they released her.”
“It affected my grieving for Matthew because I was taking care of my wife. She almost died – she flatlined twice, ironically, from overdoses of too much opioid medication. She was in so much pain that all she could do was rock back and forth, so the nighttime nurse came in and repeated the already-administered pain management. So, by then, my education on opioids was pretty strong.”
“I said to myself, ‘I have to keep going.’ The deaths of my son and my mother were overshadowed by trying to save my wife’s life. That became my mission. Once my wife got out of danger, I focused again on the opioid epidemic.”
A New Direction
Soon after, LaGreca met a man in radio broadcasting named Bill Wilhelm, who also had a problem with prescription medications. “He asked me if I would come on his sports talk show and talk about athletes and opioids,” LaGreca says. “I am actually pretty knowledgeable about the Red Sox, the Patriots, and the Celtics, so I came on every Sunday and did that radio show for about four years. We also broadcast a lot of high school games and interviewed young athletes. We had the high school kids listening, and that was where we felt we needed to educate people about opioids.”
“When he died, I was in total disbelief. I was paralyzed to my couch, I didn’t want to do anything or see anybody – I was overwhelmed. My therapist sent me to a place called Hope Floats in Kingston, where they had grief support groups. At the first couple of meetings, I could barely talk. But after I was there for a year, I trained to be a facilitator which I did for three years.”
“I also got involved with the Brockton chapter of GRASP (Grief Recovery After a Substance Passing) and started facilitating grief groups there as well. After doing the radio show, I joined Fed Up, which is a national organization that monitors and goes after the pharmaceutical industry. They were hosting a rally in Washington, D.C. for opioid awareness. I went and volunteered to speak on the lawn in front of the White House. There were about 1,000 people there who had lost a child.”
A Voice for Many
LaGreca is quick to point out that he was able to transfer the skills that brought him success in business and as a public speaker to further his outreach impact. “After my speech, Fed Up recruited me to be the organization’s spokesperson. To be the guy who talks to the FDA when they held special sessions, open to parents, at the Maryland headquarters. At the time, Purdue was pushing to manufacture a 200 mg opioid pill, up from the 50 mg single dosage limit, which could easily kill a person if they took just one. We had to fight to shut that down.
“Five or six years ago, I got invited to go to the filming of a movie called If Only. It is about two boys who go to high school together, they start taking drugs, and one of them dies while the other one survives. They wanted parents who had lost a child to be in the church scene for the kid who died. At the end, each parent shows a picture of their child, it is very moving.”
“I got to meet Jim Wahlberg, the filmmaker, who was making movies about the opioid epidemic. I signed up with him – I became a part of Wahl Street Productions and I am one-third owner of the company. Since then, we have made three other movies about opioid awareness; The Circle of Addiction, What About the Kids, and Up From the Ashes, which is not released.”
Meanwhile, LaGreca was co-hosting the radio sports show, when the host contracted Parkinson’s disease after an accident. “He couldn’t do the show anymore because he stuttered so bad,” LaGreca says. “I heard WMEX Radio was up for sale, so I bought it so I could continue to have a voice and to spread awareness.”
LaGreca was the 2023 Sound Bites Award Winner for Best in Broadcast Localism from the Massachusetts Broadcast Association.
Additionally, LaGreca was presented with the prestigious We Are Broadcasters Award in November for Best Local Content – highlighting his ability to make a difference in his community.
Practical Strategies
LaGreca reflects on how he navigated the grief over Matthew’s death compounded by that of his mother along with his wife’s illness. “Keep moving, educate yourself, educate others. Take time off from work and join a grief group. Be with other people who have the same problem, people who understand you. That will give you strength to move forward. Go to the vigils. Helping others gave me the strength to help me. If you need to find a grief group, The Sun Will Rise Foundation can help you.”