Local author turns addiction deaths into book about loss and love

ELYRIA — The similarities between the two boys made their deaths too eerie to ignore. Although they died four years apart, both attended the same high school. Their names started with the same letter. Both had the same favorite colors. And both died as the result of addiction. What made it even more difficult for Shawna Healy was that she had been close friends with the boys' parents growing up. "After the (second) funeral (in 2024), I came home and just wrote in my journal," she said. "Everything I was thinking, everything I was feeling, I just put it on the page. Once I finished, I decided I had to share it, so I shared it online and so many people encouraged me to publish it." The funeral was held Aug. 17, 2024, and Healy set a goal of finishing the book by her friend's birthday in October. "It just kind of flew out of me," she said of the quick turnaround. "Loop of Lost Souls" was published in November 2024. "One of the most memorable things she said to me was that the book gave her a way to share what had happened with her family in a way that she didn't know she needed," Healy said. "It was a way to explain and make it understandable." A 2000 Keystone High School graduate, Healy met her two best friends when they attended Lorain County Joint Vocational School together. "We were very, very close," she said of her high school pals. "We were best friends and just always together." Then, as often happens, their lives took different paths. One friend moved to Florida, raising his family there, the others just got busy with life. But that bond remained. When both of those friends lost children to addiction, Healy knew she wanted to do something. "I wanted to give addiction a voice, a face," Healy said. "I have a unique perspective on addiction. My mom was an addict, so I know what it is like to continue to love someone when they can't necessarily see a different path, when they experience life and the dark things, pain and they are on the loop of lost souls." While her story looks at those darker places, it is not one of despair. "The message is that love in the right places will help you grow," she said. Not based on one particular person, or addiction, the 40-page book could be about generalized addiction and it could be about anybody. "I wrote it without regard to religion, race or creed," she said. "It's just about love." Healy, who is a caretaker, dog walker and groomer, artist and writer, also illustrated the book. "Loop of Lost Souls" is her first published work and is available in the Lorain County public library system, as well as for purchase for $13.99 on Amazon. It also can be purchased through Healy's Facebook and Instagram pages, Hyerliving, or at the Ben Franklin & MindFair Books in Oberlin. Healy hopes to use the profits from the sale of her book to start a nonprofit to help pay for funeral expenses for the families who have lost loved ones to addiction. Contact Christina Jolliffe at ctnews@chroniclet.com.