‘We’ll by no means cease telling your story’: Kevin Hayes wrote an emotional tribute to his late brother Jimmy

It’s been precisely two years since Jimmy Hayes died after an unintentional drug overdose. His brother, Kevin, not too long ago wrote about his legacy in a transferring piece for The Gamers’ Tribune.

Formatted as a letter Kevin addressed to his late brother, it’s full of feelings. Although rooted in tragedy, it additionally contains a number of humorous anecdotes testomony to Jimmy’s heartfelt character.

The 2 grew up in Dorchester and performed domestically earlier than finally being drafted into the NHL.

Kevin, three years youthful than Jimmy, mirrored on his brother’s altruistic nature whilst children.

“I’ve by no means seen a child who simply needed everyone else to be alright, on a regular basis,” Kevin wrote of his brother. “You might be the most important nerd on the earth (me, for instance) and Jimmy would exit of his approach to discuss to you and make you are feeling a part of the group.”

Calling him a “Dorchester Batman,” Kevin recalled how Jimmy had a particular expertise for arriving in the fitting second simply to cheer others up.

Following his older brother’s path each to The Noble and Greenough Faculty in addition to Boston Faculty, Kevin cited Jimmy’s inherent skill to be careful for him as a stabilizing power in his life.

“He was simply ensuring that I used to be O.Ok. It’s what he did finest.”

However together with recollections of humorous moments — together with a number of “Name of Obligation” online game references — Kevin addressed his brother’s sudden loss of life.

“Everybody has seen the headlines,” Kevin wrote. “There’s no working from it. Two years in the past, my brother died from an unintentional overdose of cocaine and fentanyl.”

The explanation for writing the piece, Kevin famous, was the hope that sharing the story would possibly assist elevate consciousness in regards to the risks of opioid addition.

“If capsules can take my brother, they’ll take anybody,” he mentioned.

Whereas he admitted that the ache of his brother’s loss of life won’t ever fully diminish, Kevin underscored the significance of holding Jimmy alive by speaking about him.

“We’ll by no means cease telling your story,” he promised.

At the same time as he admitted that Jimmy’s loss of life nonetheless “hurts so dangerous some days that I can barely take it,” Kevin promised to persevere within the hope of continuous to make others conscious of the factor that took his brother’s life.

“I misplaced my finest pal due to a drug that’s destroying America,” he wrote. “It’s not only a drawback in hockey. It’s an issue all over the place. It’s an issue in Boston, West Virginia, Texas, California, all over the place. It’s an issue with medical doctors and attorneys and engineers. Opioid dependancy has in all probability touched most households in America at this level, and the one means we are able to save folks is by bringing these tales into the sunshine.”