Steven Scott Blay
Steven was born on March 19, 1994 in San Jose, California. As Brenda’s firstborn son, Steven was raised in a loving environment surrounded by his immediate family. While Brenda attended nursing school, Steven was fortunate to have the love and support of his maternal grandparents.
Brenda had a deep and special bond with Steven. As Steven grew, the two were inseparable and did everything together. They played sports, went to the movies, took trips to the zoo, travelled throughout Europe and had many other amazing experiences that are now wonderful memories. Around the age of 11, Steven became a member of the Blay family when Brenda married her current husband, Dr. Terry Allen Blay. In the process, he gained two brothers, Alex and Ben, and he quickly integrated into his new immediate family.
Steven was always an outgoing and lovable person. Admired by so many, he had bountiful friends with whom he would share his future ambitions. Steven’s magnetism always made people laugh and he loved entertain his family and friends by barbequing for them.
Steven spent the last few years of his life living and working in Los Angeles, where he began to find success in the modeling and entertainment industries.
Like so many other young people in the United States, Steven suffered from hereditary mental health problems, including bipolar disorder. His biological father came from a family with a history of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), addiction, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Steven’s mental health problems were poorly diagnosed and not well understood during his life. He was an ADHD child, but he did well with support. He started recreational drug use in high school, as adolescents tend to do. At the time, Steven did not realize how harmful his drug use was, mainly due in part of the fact that many of his peers were engaged in the very same behavior. His grades started to decline and his personality began to change. He became increasingly withdrawn and agitated.
When Steven was attending community college in Santa Barbara, his parents arranged for him to see a psychiatrist for his anxiety and ADHD symptoms. He was given a prescription for Xanax that included refills. In retrospect, this is the drug that truly started Steven’s addiction.
Well aware of the dangers of prescription drug addiction, Dr. Blay contacted the psychiatrist to warn her about prescribing such a large quantity of Xanax to a young adult. Many of those closest to Steven did not fully comprehend that his drug use was rooted in his mental health issues. Steven passed away on February 26, 2019, from an accidental drug overdose at the age of just 24—the same age that many mental health disorders first become apparent and are formally diagnosed by mental health professionals¹.
When our family remembers Steven, we are constantly reminded of his relentless positivity and drive to succeed. We know that he would not want his tragic death to be in vain—rather, he would want us to honor his memory in the service of a greater good. In remembrance of Steven for the charismatic and optimistic person that he was, we dedicate Addicted to Life 319 to the prevention of drug overdose deaths and to compassionate, impactful aid for those who are enduring an overdose loss of their own.