Yvonne’s hardest trial was in 2016 when she tragically lost her newly married 21-year-old son, Parker, to respiratory depression after a routine tonsillectomy. After Parker’s death, Yvonne was shocked to learn that there were so many others who had also died in a similar way after taking a prescribed dose of opioid medication. She worked with the Utah State Legislature to pass a concurrent resolution to educate the medical community to the widespread but greatly unrecognized danger of opioid-induced respiratory depression.
Yvonne cherishes the experiences she had with her son before he returned to his heavenly home. Her greatest blessings in life are her husband and eight children. She feels that death, no matter what form it comes in, is extremely hard to get through without finding the blessings among the trials. As said by William Shakespeare, “Tears water our growth.”