Book ~ "For the Love of a Son: A Memoir of Addiction, Loss, and Hope" (2025) Scott Oake

From Goodreads ~ When veteran broadcaster Scott Oake first held his infant son, Bruce, in his arms, he never imagined that Bruce would become a statistic in the losing battle to opioid abuse.

In those early days, Scott, a new father, watched Bruce with awe, marveling at the potential of his funny, charismatic boy. As Bruce got older, though, he struggled to fit in at school and began showing signs of having ADHD, including a streak of impulsiveness that often got him into trouble. Scott and his wife, Anne, did their best to support him, and for a time, he found community and belonging in boxing and local rap battles. But when Bruce was pulled into a world of drugs and gangs, Scott and Anne experienced a crash course in the reality of loving someone battling substance use disorder.

Then one quiet day in 2011, Scott got the phone call that every parent dreads. Bruce had accidentally overdosed. At just twenty-five, Scott’s vibrant, creative, first-born son was gone forever.

It was a loss that could have broken a man, a marriage, a family - but Scott, Anne, and their younger son, Darcy, instead turned the worst day of their lives into a way to help the thousands of Canadians struggling with addiction. After nearly a decade of fundraising and battling red tape and political machinations they launched the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre, a free, revolutionary treatment centre staffed by addicts and alcoholics in recovery.

For the Love of a Son: A Memoir of Addiction, Loss, and Hope by Scott Oake, a Canadian sportscaster, is an account of a father’s love in the face of loss. It follows Oake, his wife, Anne, and their younger son, Darcy, as he details his son, Bruce’s long and painful struggle with addiction. He describes what it was like as a family handling the fear, frustration and helplessness that go along with substance use. Oake tells of the many attempts to support Bruce, navigating treatment systems, relapses and moments of hope, while also dealing with the limits of what parents can control. 

I hadn't heard of Oake but I saw his book listed in the Toronto Star's 2025 Canadian top 20 non-fiction best sellers so I checked it out as I like reading bios/autobios. I'm glad I did as it's quite a story. I liked the writing style and found it honest as he doesn't shy away from telling about the family's guilt, denial, anger and constant worry. As a head's up, there is swearing.

With Bruce's death from an overdose in 2011 at the age of 25, the family turned it into something positive in 2013 by creating a foundation so other families wouldn't have to go through what they went through and to honour Bruce's memory. They created the Bruce Oake Centre, a 50-bed, nonprofit residential treatment program for in Winnipeg, Manitoba (long-term live-in and community-based services are offered to men seeking recovery from substance use disorder). The planning has started on the creation of the Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre too offer something similar for women.