.@WTOP's @SamanthaLoss going where the story takes her. @shatterproofHQ pic.twitter.com/QyLTCW2TV4
— Mike Murillo (@MikeMurilloWTOP) September 29, 2015Fighting addiction by raising money and awareness @SamanthaLoss #WeAreShatterproof #WTOP pic.twitter.com/zNmdIzxr0A
— Kristi King (@kingWTOP) September 29, 2015
BETHESDA, Md. — Look! Up in the sky! In Bethesda! It’s Spider-Man rappelling down the side of a 15-story building.
“My father died of alcohol addiction and was absent from my life, so I’m doing it in his memory,” says Okinyi Ayungo, from inside the Spider-Man suit. He’s with the group FitnessWise of Bethesda, which promotes mental and physical health and wellness.
The rappelling event, held Tuesday at Two Bethesda Metro Center, was a fundraiser for the nonprofit Shatterproof.
“We’re out here raising money for prevention, treatment and recovery of addiction — a disease,” says Shatterproof founder Gary Mendell.
Mendell says he believes that his son, Brian, who died at 25 in 2011, might be alive today if people with addictions received treatment based on science and without shame or stigma.
Brian Mendell killed himself after 10 years of addiction and bouncing in and out of treatment programs feeling shame and hopelessness, his father says.
“If he had read in the newspaper the night before that there were 100 people out raising money for prevention, treatment and recovery, he might still be here today,” Mendell says with a resigned sigh.
