When faced with the unimaginable task of tell his 8-year-old son that his mother had died of a heroin overdose, the Ohio father decided to capture it on camera.
"I had someone record this so addicts with children can see the seriousness of our epidemic," wrote Brenden Bickerstaff-Clark.
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The video, posted to Facebook, Bickerstaff-Clark, his son and two women are sitting around a picnic table when he tells his son his mother had died the night before.
The 8-year-old goes through shock, disbelief and horror.
"How?" he asks his dad.
"Through drugs," Bickerstaff-Clark replies.
The 8-year-old breaks down, crying.
Bickerstaff-Clark climbs over the picnic table next to his son, and gives him a huge hug and says, "I love you."
The video has gone viral, with more than 630,000 shares and 25.9 million views on Facebook. Many people have commented with harsh criticisms that he filmed it, but Bickerstaff-Clark says he hopes it can make a difference.
"Don't let this disease have to make someone tell your child that you're dead because of drugs," he said.
Bickerstaff-Clark said he himself is a former addict, and that the reality of addiction is leaving behind your kids.
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