PHOTO COURTESY OF TREADWELL FAMILY
Donny Treadwell died of hypothermia on Jan. 21 whereas he was residing on the streets, two days earlier than he was scheduled to maneuver into an condo by means of a speedy rehousing program.
I met Donny Treadwell in August of 2024 whereas in search of individuals to interview about residing on the streets in Springfield. We spoke a number of occasions, and on 4 of these events I used to be capable of interview him at size. After making an attempt to attach with him once more, I discovered he froze to demise whereas residing exterior this winter.
Treadwell, 58, was in a wheelchair by the point I met him. However he had beforehand been a foreman on a union electrician job, laying fiber-optic cables alongside tons of of miles of railroad. He had two work-related accidents that resulted in surgical procedures, and the second put him out of labor perpetually.
Treadwell was injured within the early 2000s, when Oxycontin – the drug that kicked off the opioid epidemic – was being over-prescribed. Treadwell had by no means heard of the drug till he was one of many many given a prescription.
“I used to be placed on a lot treatment that my physician wants his ass kicked, as a result of I wasn’t one for taking treatment anyway. I used to be by no means informed the way it labored,” he informed me throughout one in every of our interviews.
Donny wasn’t used to sitting round, and the continual ache modified his outlook on life.
“I thank God for (the life) he gave me, however I did not ask for any extra, you understand? And I used to be similar to, if you wish to finish it at present, I may very well be OK with it,” he mentioned.
He was shortly depending on the prescribed treatment, even because it grew to become much less useful.
“It stopped being concerning the ache … whether or not I needed to take it or not, my physique needed to have it,” Treadwell mentioned. “I not had any say within the matter. It was only a straight, full-blown dependancy. And it price me all the pieces.”
One time his treatment was stolen, and he went into withdrawal.
“At that time, I used to be able to die. I truly welcomed it,” he mentioned. A good friend supplied to take Treadwell to a vendor to purchase capsules. After a protracted drive, Treadwell realized that there have been no capsules. It was heroin being offered.
Treadwell refused at first, however his good friend satisfied him it could assist.
“For the primary time in I do not know what number of years, my ache was utterly, utterly gone,” Treadwell mentioned.
And with that, he began down the trail of searching for illicit medication with the intention to fill the outlet that Oxycontin left. After a two-year jail sentence for his intermediary position in a minor drug deal, Treadwell’s housing state of affairs grew to become extra fleeting.
Treadwell informed me that as a child, his father abused him and his mom. Treadwell would sleep in his mom’s mattress to attempt to shield her. He mentioned that meant he reacted violently to being startled awake. It made staying in a shelter unattainable.
The final time I interviewed Treadwell, in November, he informed me he was making progress by means of a program at Washington Avenue Mission.
He was slated to get into an condo Jan. 23 by means of a speedy rehousing program. Based on the coroner’s report, he died of hypothermia on Jan. 21 after being discovered unresponsive exterior of St. John’s Breadline. Temperatures that evening had dipped right down to adverse 6 levels Fahrenheit.
Treadwell is not the one individual that has already died in Springfield this 12 months as a direct results of being homeless. A number of days earlier than his demise, Cory Beebe, 37, died on account of a hearth in an deserted home that occurred throughout freezing temperatures.
Steve Ohr is the pastor at Washington Steet Mission, a spiritual nonprofit offering social companies. He is aware of of 4 individuals experiencing homelessness who’ve died thus far this 12 months and mentioned he has carried out memorial companies for a lot of members of the homeless group.
“Now we have lots of demise occurring, and because the pastor right here, I would like individuals to know that folks nonetheless love them,” Ohr mentioned. “It helps hold me humble as a result of in my alcoholism and dependancy, I might have been a kind of people.”
Like each Ohr and Treadwell, I’ve skilled substance-use dysfunction, and I used to be homeless for 3 years. I’m fortunate sufficient to have survived numerous overdoses. There’s nothing that differentiates me from anybody residing on the streets, and to assist these individuals survive we have to give them as many probabilities as they should recuperate.
“So many individuals out right here on these streets really feel like no one cares about them,” mentioned Ohr. “Probably the most essential issues is to allow them to know that they don’t have to battle this alone.”
As Treadwell additionally informed me, “That is undoubtedly a giant factor. Seeing that you simply’re not alone, you understand?”
Homelessness takes a lethal toll on members of our group. Based on the Illinois Division of Public Well being, individuals experiencing homelessness die practically 20 years youthful than the general inhabitants on common.
The extra housing we are able to make out there and the extra we are able to settle for individuals like Treadwell as members of our group deserving of dignity, the higher their possibilities of survival.
“I met some actually good individuals out right here that had lots of hardship fall on them, and never by their very own palms,” mentioned Treadwell.
Keegan Otwell is energetic in Springfield’s restoration group, and he writes about his experiences with homelessness and dependancy at nowherepod.substack.com/podcast. The total sequence of interviews with Donny is offered on the podcast.
