Family poses with dead heroin addict father to teach us all a lesson

A mother has shared a controversial photo of her and her children posing next to their dead father.

Mike Settles, Eva Holland, Lucas and Ava (Picture: Facebook)

Eva Holland and her kids, Lucas and Ava, could be seen standing next to Mike Settles who was in an open casket at his funeral last week.



Strangely the family from Ohio, United States, were smiling but Holland insisted she did not make the decision to publish the images on social media lightly, and wanted to show the impact of heroin abuse.

‘I’m sure this photo makes a lot of people uncomfortable it may even p**s a few people off but the main reason I took it was to show the reality of addiction,’ she wrote in a post on Instagram and Facebook.

‘If you don’t choose recovery every single day this will be your only way out. No parent should have to bury their child and no child as young as ours should have to bury their parent.

‘This was preventable it didn’t have to happen but one wrong choice destroyed his family. I know a lot of people may be upset I’m putting it out in the open like this, but hiding the facts is only going to keep this epidemic going. The cold hard truth is heroin kills.’

Despite the shocking nature of the photo, Holland has received a lot of praise on social media and her message seemed to have been getting through.

‘I am a addict too your story breaks my heart it took so much courage to do this I’m so sorry for your loss but it makes me sure I want to keep my recovery may God be with you,’ wrote Tammy McLeod Ivey.

Maria Palassis added: ‘God bless you for having the courage to declare this war on heroin. Rest in peace, Mike.’

Holland added her 26-year-old husband had recovered last Christmas but relapsed and met his tragic end from a heroin overdose on September 2.

Metro