2,463 American soldiers died in Afghanistan. 4,492 in the Iraq War. 58,209 in Vietnam. In 2023, more American civilians died due to fentanyl overdose than soldiers in all these wars combined. Jack O’Kelley, a North Atlanta graduate, was among the 70,000 victims. In the last year, his family has grappled not only with their own tragic loss but also with the thousands of similar episodes that continue to unfold across the country. They established the Jack O’Kelley Foundation to address the crisis, educate people, and save lives.
Jack O’Kelley was beloved at NAHS and beyond. Everywhere he went he touched the hearts of others. While at North Atlanta, he was captain and quarterback of the football team, captain of the lacrosse team, an IB student, and a member of the National English Honor Society and The Fellowship of Christian Athletes. After graduating in 2021, he became a fixture of his community at the University of Georgia, where he studied business with an interest in commercial real estate and joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
Jack’s death devastated friends and family alike. Saturday, November 23, marked the one-year anniversary of his passing. “It’s been a very trying year for my wife and I and all the kids,” said Jack’s father, Mike O’Kelley. “We actually live it every day, every moment of every day.”
Fueled by their own incalculable loss and determined to spare others from the same grief, Jack’s parents, Mike O’Kelley and Angela King, started the Jack O’Kelley Foundation which increases visibility of Jack’s story and the dangers of fentanyl. In the first year since his death, Jack‘s family has given presentations to more than 7,000 people- including North Atlanta students- and reached countless more via the foundation’s website and an appearance on 60 Minutes. They hope to double that number this coming year. “We feel compelled to help others not go through what we’ve been through,” said Mike O’Kelley.
Every week, fentanyl kills 22 teens ages 14 to 18. The drug is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine or heroin, and seven out of ten street pills contain a potentially fatal dose. If administered fast enough, naloxone, brand name Narcan, can revive a person experiencing an overdose, symptoms of which include “pinpoint” pupils that don’t respond to light, loss of consciousness, slowed heartbeat and respiration, difficulty breathing, and discolored skin. Georgia’s Amnesty law protects victims or witnesses who call 911 for medical assistance and civilians who make a good-faith effort to aid an overdose victim.
However, preventative care is ultimately the best tactic. That’s why Jack’s family and the O’Kelley Foundation work tirelessly to help people, especially kids, before it’s too late. Frequently, teens approach them and share their own struggles with drug addiction, or those of a friend. Mike O’Kelley wants them to know that there is hope. “You’re young,” said Mike O’Kelley. “If you have a potential addiction, if you can reverse course on that now, you can still have a beautiful life.”
For more information on the Jack O’Kelley Foundation and its mission, visit its website here or search for www.jokfoundation.org.
For the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), call 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
For the Suicide and Crisis Hotline, call 988.
