Patty Nugent, of Brockport, lost her daughter to a heroin/fentanyl overdose on November 6, 2014. She found herself and her family in one of the worst horrors a parent can experience.
Kylie Abbott was a bright spirit and a graduate of Brockport High School where she had been a cheerleader. Her addiction began after an injury which led to her using a prescription to oxycontin. The use of this pain medication ultimately led to several years of a battle with addiction to opioids.
“Kylie fought to break her addiction,” said her mom, Patty. Kylie voluntarily admitted herself into drug rehabilitation centers several times, but would eventually relapse again.
After many attempts to break the chains of addiction in her young life, Kylie was living with her mom and trying to turn her life around. Patty came home to pick up Kylie on November 6 to take her Christmas shopping. When Patty went upstairs to check on Kylie, she found her daughter unconscious and purple and blue colored. “I just started screaming,” Patty reflected. Tragically, this relapse took the 25-year-old’s life, leaving a gaping hole in her family’s hearts and robbing her two young children of their mom.
To help the family process their grief and create a purpose in this tragedy, Patty began an annual event to help others. She collects necessity items and creates Kylie’s Kindness Bags for the homeless in the community to help them survive through the harshness of winter.
Kylie herself was homeless at times after relapses. “There were times when Kylie lived on the streets with her 18-month-old and 4-year-old children, and I know how hard that was.”
Patty will assemble the collected survival items and make individual bags to deliver to those in need on “Kylie’s angel day” (November 6) to honor her and help others who are in similar struggles that she was faced with.
The community is invited to participate in the collection of the items that will be going into Kylie’s Kindness Bags. Among the requested items are hand warmers, individually wrapped snacks, granola bars, socks and pet food. If you would like more information or to contribute to Kylie’s Kindness Bags, email Patty at http://pattynugent56@gmail.com or contact her on Facebook. The donation deadline is Friday, October 27.
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