Last summer, exhausted from saving the life of a man who was overdosing in a convenience store bathroom, Adam Faust took a pill to help him fall asleep.
That pill, however, was laced with fentanyl, and Faust, 29, of West Brookfield, died.
Faust, who had struggled with fentanyl abuse for years, found purpose in his recovery in helping those who also struggled with substance abuse, according to his parents, Lisa and Jim Faust.
For his parents, Faust’s death July 13, 2024 meant the loss of someone who was “funny, caring, sweet and a great friend.” Faust’s brother, Brian Faust, who had identical tattoos to his brother, was devastated, according to his parents.
In memory of Adam Faust, his family helped launch the Adam Faust Memorial Fund at UMass Memorial Health — Harrington Hospital. The fund will help support behavioral health and recovery services offered at the hospital’s campuses in Southbridge and Webster, according to Kristy Lee, a spokesperson for UMass Memorial.
A fundraiser to kick off the fund was held on July 24, when more than $250,000 was raised, Lee said.
On Wednesday afternoon, Faust’s parents shared their son’s story in front of a crowd of 30 people at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester for an international opioid awareness ceremony.
As they walked up to the podium on the campus grounds, more than 1,300 small purple flags waved in the gentle breeze. Purple is the color for National Recovery Month, established in 1989 for the month of September, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The flags represent the lives lost to opioid addiction in Massachusetts in 2024, according to Dr. Kavita Babu, chief opioid officer at UMass Memorial Health.
“I’m gonna do my best to use my superpower of empathy to help anyone I can in the substance use disorder community and in this community of grief of which I am now a citizen,” Jim Faust said to the crowd, choking up at times. “I will fail, and I will succeed. I will be strong, and I will break down crying. I will be strengthened in faith, and I will be weakened by doubts. But one day at a time, I will move forward.”
From addiction to assistance
Through high school, Faust required four surgeries due to chronic pain in his wrist bones, a torn ACL and a torn MCL, according to his parents. As part of the surgeries, Faust was prescribed opioids, such as Percocet and Oxycodone.
Faust later earned a degree in finance at Bentley College in Waltham and secured a job.
What his parents didn’t know was their son was hiding something from them — an addiction to opioids.
“Adam hid his addiction extremely well,” Lisa Faust said. “Behind the scenes, he was buying drugs to feed his addiction.”
During 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Adam Faust lost his job and moved back in with his family.
“That’s when we started noticing the changes,” Lisa Faust said. “He was irritable, short tempered, unhappy, always broke. We noticed missing money, credit cards and valuables disappearing from the home.”
After a month, Faust and her husband turned to what they called “tough love.”
The two of them and their other son told Adam Faust they would take him to a detox center.
“This time, he was willing to go,” said Faust’s mother. “It was the best decision that Adam and we have ever made.”
Two days into the program, Faust admitted he was addicted to fentanyl. He would eventually move back to his family’s home after completing detox.
Six months following his detox, Faust had a relapse but he didn’t hide it like he did in the past. Following his relapse, Faust checked himself into a sober home in Stoughton, according to his mother. During his time at the sober home, he worked as an assistant manager.
His mother said Faust thrived at the home as he helped others who were suffering from addiction just as he did.
One night, he received a call from a former client, a man who had been arrested in Brockton, who told him that if he could get to a detox facility that night, the police would not press charges, according to Faust’s mother.
Faust agreed, picked up the man and stopped at a Cumberland Farms before heading back to the facility.
During the stop, the man went in to get a drink but he didn’t come out for quite some time, according to Faust’s mother.
Faust went into the store, where he found the man in the bathroom after he kicked the door down, his mother said.
He gave the man Narcan — a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses — and he performed CPR while also dialing 911. Through his swift actions, Faust had saved that man’s life.
“When Adam got home in the early-morning hours, he told us, ‘I’m going to take my dog for a ride, and then I’m going to get some sleep.’” Lisa Faust said. “He added, ‘I’m not going into work today.’”
Faust was exhausted and had taken a pill to help him sleep, according to his mother. That pill, however, was laced with fentanyl — a substance for which Faust now had zero tolerance.
At 11 a.m. on July 13, Faust’s mother found him sleeping and snoring peacefully.
“I felt grateful, grateful that he was taking a day off and getting some well-needed rest,” she said.
At 12 p.m., his father went into his room to say hello, but by then, Faust had died.
“Adam gave his life saving someone else’s,” Lisa Faust said. “His work ethic, his compassion, his heart, his humor, his empathy left a lasting impact on every person he worked with and on every patient he helped.”
Recovery through fly fishing
Following the loss of his son, Jim Faust launched a non-profit that offers therapeutic fly-fishing to those recovering from addiction. The non-profit is known as Adam’s Parachute and Faust has worked with 57 people so far. He hopes to meet with more than 100 people before the end of the year.
“It’s been proven to decrease depression and anxiety, and symptoms of PTSD and it gets people to live in the moment,” Jim Faust said. “And that’s half the challenge for that.”
Faust notes there are many programs aimed at connecting those who have cancer and other diseases but not for addiction. He told MassLive there is a stigma towards those who suffer from substance abuse that needs to be broken.
Through fly fishing, Faust has learned to manage his grief and found much in common with those recovering from addiction.
“I hit the bottom of my life many of them have,” he said. “I face it every day and they all do. I need a higher power, so do they. I can’t do it on my own. Neither can they.”
Faust said he and his wife never had stigma towards their son, despite him suffering from addiction. And to break that stigma, the goal is to connect with other people.
“People don’t believe it’s a disease,” Faust said about addiction. ”They believe it’s a choice.”
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