Dead for 6 Minutes After Overdosing, Price Woman Finds Her Purpose

PRICE, Utah – People spend good money to buy something that’s just right.

Heather Barker would rather put in the work to make it right.

“It was green. Green doesn’t match,” she said as she stained a wood frame black with a rag. “I’m a matchy type of person.”

The living room in her Price home is full of matching black frames with inspiring quotes and sayings.

It’s all in an effort to bring her peace and happiness.

She admits things have been tough.

“I never would have guessed that this was going to be my life,” said Barker.

She opened up her home to KSL 5 TV to have an honest conversation about her battle with opioid addiction, specifically heroin.

“Two hits and I was in love, like completely in love,” she said. “I had never felt that good in my life. It took away every ounce of pain I had, not just physical but emotional.”

Physical pain because she was a victim of domestic violence. She was hit in her face with a baseball bat.

“It hurt so bad,” she said while pointing to the side of her face. “It shattered this cheek bone, broke my nose, and decimated the cartilage in my ear. And I knew exactly where I could go to get heroin.”

That’s when she says she got hooked, which eventually led to the emotional pain of having to give up custody of her children.

“When you’re clean, you would do anything for your kids. There would be nothing you would stop at for your kids. When you’re in your addiction, they don’t even matter,” said Barker. “You choose your drugs before your kids and that’s such a sad thing. Once my kids left, that’s when I really started using hard. It just numbs every part of your soul.”

It was a downward spiral until this past February.

“Uh, yeah, when I died,” she said, with a slight laugh to ease the pain of memory. “I remember that day fully. I’ll never forget that day. It was just any other day as a drug addict.”

Barker says she was with four friends when she overdosed and died for six minutes.

“We were in a motor home and I remember sitting across the table from him and looking at him and fading to black and thinking to myself, ‘I hope they have that Narcan’ because Patrick had just brought the Narcan the day before.”

Patrick is Patrick Rezac, the founder of One Voice Recovery.

His group, based in Salt Lake City, focuses on addiction treatment by talking to people and bringing them supplies throughout several counties.

“When I started this program, I set out with the intention of meeting people where they were, going to them where they’re comfortable,” said Rezac. “That would be at raves or homeless camps or wherever they may be.”

One Voice Recovery finds a niche by visiting a segment of the population that might not be ready to seek help.

He just happened to meet Barker in Carbon County and gave her and her friends the shots that most likely saved her life.

“We’re just trying to do our part, because we care about people who are struggling,” said Rezac.

Barker ended up serving some jail time, went through some recovery programs, and has now been clean for six months.

“I’m so happy to be clean. I wake up every morning and I seriously thank God for showing me grace,” she said, with the biggest smile during our entire interview.

Putting in all that work wasn’t easy and she continues with it every day.

However, she wants to be an example to others that there is a better life beyond drugs.

“I am clean and I’m sober and I’m loving life,” she said.

She’s even getting to see her kids this coming weekend.