Fentanyl Poisoning: an attack on our rural communities
Remembering Jonn beer
Columbus, MT
Written by Cyd Hoefle
Photography contributed by Andrea Beer
“Jonn couldn’t be confined. He was wild at heart.”
-Andrea Beer
Andrea Beer took a deep breath as she began her story about her son, Jonn. One year ago, Jonn’s life was tragically shortened due to fentanyl poisoning.
“Jonn wore his heart on his shoulder,” she started. “Addiction was a part of my son’s life, but it did not define him. He was defined by his huge heart, generosity, and quick-witted personality.”
A vivacious young man who lived life fully, Jonn spent his youth growing up outside of Columbus, racing dirt bikes, snowmobiling, and riding broncs and bulls. His career, and passion, was training horses. At 29, Jonn had struggled for a decade with substance abuse. He became addicted to pain pills after a bucking horse accident left his jaw broken, requiring multiple surgeries. An infection took six weeks of intravenous antibiotics and additional pain meds to heal.
“I hope by sharing who Jonn was that even one person might be saved from the devastating effects of fentanyl,” Andrea continued. “It’s time to step up the battle against it and make people aware of it.”
Through his adventurous lifestyle, he endured and was treated for multiple concussions and broken bones and was always in chronic pain. As a young adult, he was diagnosed with second impact syndrome and six months prior to his passing, he was diagnosed with CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a progressive brain condition that’s thought to be caused by repeated blows to the head and repeated episodes of concussions.
Before long, pain meds weren’t enough to ease his pain.
“Jonn was so personable and so wanting to please,” Andrea said. “But when he was under the influence, his personality changed.”
Whether it was the CTE or substance usage, or perhaps a combination of both causing these personality changes, as his mother, Andrea knew when he was using.
“He’d just change,” she explained. “He became quick tempered and impatient.”
The struggles were hard on the family, but Andrea never gave up hope that he would overcome his addictions.
“Jonn wore his heart on his shoulder. Addiction was a part of my son’s life, but it did not define him. He was defined by his huge heart, generosity, and quick-witted personality.”
“Jonn never slowed down,” she said. “If he wanted something, he’d go for it, regardless of the risk factor. I think he thought he was invincible. And, sometimes, I did too. He’d come through so much.”
As Jonn entered his twenties, he began to abuse alcohol as well. Andrea and her husband, Doni, tried multiple treatments for him with little success.
“Jonn couldn’t be confined,” she said. “He was wild at heart.”
A couple of years after his bucking horse accident, Jonn endured a snowmobile accident, hitting a stump which threw him over the handlebars. The wreck caused a bleeding artery, which resulted in emergency surgery and a long, painful recovery due to the nerve damage the swelling had caused.
“We almost lost him,” Andrea recalled. “He was in the hospital for four days fighting excruciating pain. When he was finally discharged, once again, he left with a prescription for pain pills.”
At one point, Andrea remembers him saying to her, “I’ve taken so many pain pills my receptors are messed up. Things that shouldn’t hurt me hurt.”
After the accident, alcohol and drugs continued consuming Jonn’s life, yet Andrea fondly recalled times of peace in the family – times when Jonn was doing well. He loved “his girls,” his wife and three daughters, fiercely.
“We’d never know when he’d turn again, though,” she said. “He’d have an emotional high followed by a kick in the face. He just couldn’t get a break.”
She specifically recounted one week when Jonn had been doing especially well. He’d sold one of his horses and was planning to use the money to pay off some debt. Then, a close friend committed suicide and Jonn reverted to his addictions.
Despite his multiple injuries and his continual journey with addiction, Jonn consistently fueled his passion for rodeo. The rush of riding a bronc and the camaraderie he shared with the other competitors were a joy he held dearly. When COVID shut down many rodeos, Jonn was one of the first to support Tom Horn Days, a three-day rodeo hosted by Selle Rodeo Productions in Bosler, Wyoming. He attended the first two years, loved the ranch-style rodeo, and quickly struck up a friendship with Rand Selle, the founder.
As this budding friendship was cut short by Jonn’s death, along with the loss of several other friends, Rand was inspired to take action. He launched an organization for addiction awareness and rescue called “No More Empty Saddles,” at this year’s Tom Horn Days in August.
As Rand began planning the unveiling of “No More Empty Saddles,” he asked Doni and Andrea if the first ride of the night could be dedicated to their son, Jonn. Kicking off Tom Horn Days on August 13, a riderless bronc jumped out of the chute – the bronc Jonn rode the year prior. Not a sound could be heard as the bronc bucked around the arena in a cloud of white, scattering Jonn’s ashes with each twist and turn.
“My hope for ‘No More Empty Saddles’ is awareness,” Andrea said. “If just one person can be saved from the ravages of addiction, suicide, or accidental death, then it’s served its purpose. No one wakes up saying, ‘I think I want to be an addict.’”
Andrea is now also on a personal campaign to raise awareness of the deadly power of Fentanyl. She visited the Columbus High School in October to educate students on the easy availability of the drug and the deadliness of it.
“Families are in crisis,” she said. “Fentanyl is incredibly addicting. Even trying it just once can cause death. The amount of Fentanyl in Jonn’s system was the size of two grains of salt.”
While challenging, Andrea hopes by stepping out and discussing Jonn’s death and his life, she can shed light on the effects of addictive substances on mental health and the need to seek help.
“We have to get rid of the stigma around mental health issues and addictions,” she said. “No one should be embarrassed to say they need help. Addiction does not discriminate.”
As Andrea reflected on Jonn’s life, scrolling through photos and videos on her phone of Jonn and his three younger brothers, a smile came over her face.
“He was a great guy,” she said. “The day before he died, he stopped by my office, and we had a really good talk. I never would have believed it would be the last time I saw him.”
Jonn’s legacy continued even after his death as his family decided to donate his heart, lungs, liver, and both kidneys, saving five lives.
“Jonn would have loved that. I always wanted him to see himself through my eyes and not his,” Andrea said. “I read a quote once that helped me to understand him. ‘Why do you always take the hard road? What makes you assume I see two roads?’ That was Jonn. That was my son. That’s who I love.”