TUSCOLA, Ill. (WCIA) — Thursday is International Overdose Awareness Day, focusing on bringing light to the worldwide crisis and remembering we’ve people lost to it.

For Linda Scribner, a mom in Tuscola, she’s experienced more heartbreak than anyone should go through. Her family was torn apart in 2014 when she lost one of her sons to an overdose. Five years later, she lost another.

“My life totally changed at that moment,” Scribner described. “Never to be the same. My whole world crashed.”

After using drugs and getting help, her 20-year-old son Jordan “Petey” Scribner started using them again. He overdosed at a friend’s house in February of 2014.

Petey was one of six siblings, an athlete and active throughout Tuscola.

“We’d joke that he would run through the house and jump over the couch and was just always on the go,” the mom described.

Little did she know heroin would take that spunky personality away from her too soon.

“Is it really happening? This can’t be true,” she reflected.

Five years later, her heart broke into pieces once again. Jacob was her third child, a farmer and a dad. He was also hiding a meth addiction.

“He was an old soul,” Scribner said. “He hung out with all the farmers at the coffee shop.”

She remembers the night before he died like it was yesterday.

“I had taken his daughter home after a softball game,” she said. “He was on top of the world.”

That world shattered hours later when his daughter Makenna found him unresponsive. She was only nine years old at the time.

“He obviously had overdosed,” Scribner said.

Now, she’s trying to make sure no other mom walks in her shoes. She started the “Be Brave” nonprofit, and she wants to spread awareness and increase resources.

“Trying to support these people rather than just ‘they’re bad’ and don’t want to be around them,” Scribner said. “It’s all about the support.”

At the end of the day, they’re still her sons and she loves them deeply.

“I don’t want to forget them, or anybody else to forget them,” she said.

To keep their memories alive, Be Brave is hosting a run in Tuscola on Sept. 30. Through it, Scribner hopes to bring more awareness to addiction. For details about the run, visit this website.

If you’re struggling with addiction and need help, there are resources across Central Illinois. Visit these links below.