Hundreds at Jones Beach honor those lost to overdoses at 10th John Brower Jr. walk against heroin
Doreen and Joe Affe, of Holtsville, and their granddaughters, twins Lola and Meadow Affe, 2 , walk at the John Brower Jr. Foundation 5K against heroin on Jones Beach in Wantagh on Saturday. They're walking in honor of Nick Dirosse, a former Sachem football player who died of a fatal overdose in June 2019 at age 23. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
John Brower Jr. was prescribed OxyContin to relieve pain from a broken ankle suffered in a 2012 car crash.
After that prescription ran out, he began buying the pills. In June 2014, two years after his crash, Brower died of an overdose of heroin laced with fentanyl, his parents said.
When he died, Jody Brower, now 64, asked her husband, John Brower Sr.: "What are we going to do? Is this going to make us, or is it going to break us?"
John and Jody Brower, of Dix Hills, and their granddaughter Mikayla Jantzen, 5, of West Islip, are at the 10th John Brower Jr. Foundation walk against heroin at Jones Beach in Wantagh on Saturday. The parents lost their son John Jr., age 25, to an overdose of heroin laced with fentanyl in 2014. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
The answer to that question is clear as the John Brower Jr. Foundation they founded in 2015 marks a decade of organizing walks in their son's honor. This year’s walk, held Saturday on the Jones Beach Boardwalk, drew hundreds and is a recurring symbol of Long Island’s battle against addiction.
"As a family, we’d like to make sure other people don’t have to go through the heartache and grief that we went through losing our son to a fentanyl overdose," said John Brower Sr., 69.
The annual walk raises about $15,000 for Outreach, a Queens-based nonprofit that offers addiction treatment services in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
The John Brower Jr. Foundation and Outreach host the 10th Heroes Against Heroin 5K Walk at Jones Beach State Park in Wantagh on Saturday. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
John Venza, 63, who oversees Outreach’s residential services, lost his son, Garrett, to a fatal fentanyl overdose in 2016. He said the Brower’s mission was "turning tragedy into triumph."
Each year, Venza said, more families came to the walk to learn about treatment and prevention and get support from a community that’s endured similar tragedies.
"Many others here are in the same, unfortunate sad club that we’re in, but it’s a day for us to remember our lost children and to honor them," Venza said. "It’s a day to let other people who are dealing with the same pain, the same challenges, the same struggles, find a place for help."
There are some signs of success in the ongoing battle against overdose deaths. Fatal overdoses dropped nearly 32% statewide in 2024, exceeding a nationwide decline in drug-related fatalities, Newsday has reported.
Brian Dirosse, center, who moved from Ronkonkoma to North Carolina, and his daughter Gabriella, 19, far right, are at the John Brower, Jr. Foundation walk against heroin at Jones Beach in Wantagh on Saturday. Dirosse lost his son, Nick Dirosse, in June 2019 to an overdose. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
An estimated 80,391 people died of drug overdoses nationwide last year — the lowest total since 2019 — compared to 110,037 deaths in 2023, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"This disease, it hits everybody," Jody Brower said. "It's extremely important that people come together."
At the start of the walk, participants bought raffles and picked up kits that include Narcan, an emergency treatment to reverse drug overdoses, at Outreach’s education table.
Brian Dirosse, 53, who grew up in Ronkonkoma before moving to North Carolina, was at the walk wearing a T-shirt bearing a photo of his son, Nick, a former Sachem football player who died of a fatal overdose in June 2019. Nick Dirosse was 23.
The loss weighs on him daily, but events like the one on Saturday helps bring pivotal awareness and foster a community where people can lean on one another, he said.
"It’s a rough situation every morning I wake up," Brian Dirosse said. "Meeting other people and talking to people and having the support of all your family and friends around you, it’s nice to be around."
