Losing a child, and the immense pain and grief that comes with it, is unimaginable to most.
And for the parents who must travel that dark road, it is almost indescribable.
Jim Mennear had a brief glimpse of that life when one of his boys disappeared from the backyard.
That was the inspiration behind his 1993 song Missing Child, which was used by Child Find Canada to assist in bringing awareness to the plight of missing children.
His son was found 30 minutes later, but Jim will never forget the panic at that moment.
"During that time I felt the anxiety of what a parent of a missing child must go through," said the Vernon resident. "The song came to me in the middle of the night a few weeks later."
The song made headlines as Much Music came to town to film Jim, backed by St. James Elementary students, singing Missing Child in Polson Park that year. Featuring photos of missing children, the video was aired on National Missing Child Awareness Day (May 25).
His son Aaron, at the age of seven, was involved as an actor in the production of a different video for Missing Child created by Shaw Community services for their networks.
At the time, Jim didn't know just how pivotal this song would come to be in his life.
Jim's writing career was sidelined for 30 years to raise a family and pay the bills. He returned to songwriting in June of this year, having rewritten and produced a few of his older songs while also creating several new ones, many yet to be released.
"I have often thought about rewriting some of the lyrics for the song to broaden its audience, it is a sobering yet beautiful song," he said of Missing Child.
The song has an even deeper meaning for Jim now. His son Aaron died in 2017.
"He was a victim of the fentanyl poisoning crisis that has and continues to impact thousands of families across the continent."
Aaron, just 31 at the time, had moved from Vernon to Edmonton to work at Fort McMurray and was an active young man who loved the outdoors, snowboarding and waterskiing.
A bad snowboarding fall that broke his leg in six places put Aaron in a wheelchair for two months along with several surgeries, and Jim said he was "prescribed an endless supply of opioids."
He recovered and even entered into a bodybuilding competition.
"However, the addiction caused from the long-term use of the prescribed drugs had gotten a hold of him and his doctors cut him off cold turkey," said Jim. "We tried to get him into an addiction clinic however they said he wasn't bad enough."
Aaron moved back home so his family could help him, and he had been clean for three months, until a fatal relapse.
"He had been carrying a naloxone kit with him, however he left it at his girlfriend's place in Edmonton when he had recently gone to visit her. He told her to give it to someone on the street because he was confident he was addiction free.
"That decision cost him his life."
Aaron had even been trying to start a program to assist others with the addiction.
"To make things even worse, the day he passed was on his younger brother's birthday. Who now has that memory for life."
The loss didn't stop there for Jim's family.
"My niece Emily was given what was supposed to be a painkiller for a migraine, it was also fentanyl," Jim said. "My other niece Christine unfortunately struggled with a lot of personal problems and was addicted to hard drugs, she eventually overdosed as well."
Therefore, Jim felt it was appropriate to dedicate a revised version of the song to Aaron and his two cousins.
And he has dedicated the song to overdose awareness. August is Overdose Awareness Month and Aug. 31 is National Overdose Awareness Day.
Jim's return to music is also marked by the revised release of Together, a song he penned in the '90s and has now fully produced to reflect his original vision of an "anthem of togetherness."
The SOCAN award-winning songwriter is also working on an upcoming release of Johnny (revised), a track that explores the magnetic pull of the "bad boy" archetype. A teaser for the song is now available on his YouTube channel.
Jim is currently reproducing more of his catalogue while simultaneously writing and producing new music.
