Grieving Valley View Mom Speaks Out on Heroin Epidemic
Ana Ibarra lost her son, Juan, to a heroin overdose in August. He was 18 and a recent Romeoville High School graduate.
As she addressed Wednesday’s heroin forum, Ana Ibarra asked her three children to stand on the stage next to her. They assembled around a graduation portrait of their brother, Juan, who died in August after a heroin overdose. Juan's sister stood on one side, his two brothers on the other. A gap for the portrait between them. “That gap,” she told the crowd. “That’s what we’re feeling at home.” Juan Ibarra Jr. graduated early from Romeoville High School last year. It was all part of his plan to start taking classes at Joliet Junior College, transfer to Purdue University and then become a lawyer. He had a plan, Ibarra said. But on Aug. 19, Ibarra heard the scream of Juan’s aunt struggling to wake him. She ran to his room and tried to wake …
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Karen Elsberg
6:07 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
I am so saddend to read the news about the Lewis University Death of a girl...who was not a student there...but spending time with her friend over the weekend...and overdosed on HEROINE! Another HEROINE death!!! OMG Please Please dear Lord...find these Drug dealers and make them PAY! It's so disturbing to me..that this has to happen to young innocent kids!! I'm so sorry for you loss Marineir … more ›