CAASA’s annual Celebration of Life event highlights hope in recovery

Guest speaker Jon Keller shares his recovery story at this year’s Celebration of Life. (Moira Sweetland photo)

The memories of loved ones lost and dearly missed — and the beauty and blessings of life in recovery — were on full display at last Thursday’s Celebration of Life event hosted by the Canton Alliance Against Substance Abuse.

Held on the lawn in front of the Senior Center on International Overdose Awareness Day, the seventh annual event attracted a diverse crowd that included residents from all walks of life, as well as school and municipal leaders, CAASA members, high school students, and public safety personnel.

This year’s guest speakers were Jon and Erin Keller, a local couple who spoke openly and unflinchingly about their path to sobriety following years of alcohol and drug abuse after both nearly died of a drug overdose on Memorial Day weekend in 2022.

Both had used cocaine that unknowingly contained Fentanyl — a potent synthetic opioid — and both needed several doses of Narcan in order to be revived. Jon was at a gas station when his heart stopped beating and Erin collapsed in the couple’s kitchen, and when they awoke in the hospital two DCF workers informed them that they would have to temporarily relinquish custody of their 9-year-old daughter.

Wracked with guilt and feeling “broken,” the couple swore off alcohol and drugs, and with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous they slowly put the pieces of their life back together.

“I chased recovery like I chased a drink or drug,” recalled Erin. “I went to three meetings a day. It was very hard not to have my daughter with me throughout this past year, but the meetings definitely helped.”

Jon, who was admittedly resistant to receiving help initially, also decided to embrace recovery and now considers it the best decision he’s ever made in his life.

“Now we do what we’re supposed to do,” he said. “We’re involved in the community and our life has gotten so much better without drugs and alcohol. There’s no more fighting, there’s no more anger; we actually have feelings now, and we’re not masking the feelings that we always masked.”

The Kellers have since regained custody of their daughter, who was in attendance at last week’s event and regularly accompanies them to AA meetings. Both are now actively involved with the Turning Point Recovery Center in Walpole and devote much of their free time to supporting others in recovery.

“I’ll do anything when it comes to recovery, like speaking here,” Erin told the crowd. “It’s truly an honor to speak here. I can’t believe I am here considering the way I drank. But I don’t think about alcohol anymore, nor do I think about drugs. I think about my daughter, and I am a woman of dignity today.”

Following the Kellers’ remarks, CAASA member and event organizer Harriet Burak noted that the couple’s story, as well as the recovery story of the evening’s musical guest, Michael Hohmann, perfectly encapsulated the spirit and purpose of the annual event. “This is a celebration of life — life that was lived and life that is,” Burak said. “And you see that now by our [musical guest] and by our speakers that using does not have to mean death. In their cases they’re working very hard, they’re living in the moment one day at a time, and they’re very much alive.”

Thursday’s Celebration of Life also featured selected readings by CAASA members and town officials, acoustic guitar performances by Hohmann, and a candle-lighting ceremony and reading of names of overdose victims. A slideshow featuring photographs of loved ones lost was also on display during the event.

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