Joshua David Cunningham

With deepest sorrow, we announce that Joshua David Cunningham (LittleFoot), age 27 our beloved son, brother, family member and friend passed suddenly on Sunday, May 24, 2020.

For those of you from the Manchester/Hampstead area that knew Josh when he was younger, he was a shy and quiet kid. He would always try to make people smile or laugh, sometimes at his own expense. He never seemed to feel like he fit in even though he had more friends than he realized. He wanted the cool car and to be popular. Sometime shortly after high school we started to notice something about Josh had changed. He became more withdrawn from the family and some of his closest friends. I look back now and I see all of the signs. In his desire to fit in he needed to find a way to come out of his shell and be more of the center of attention. Prescription pain pills were his answer. They made him feel more alive. They brought out the personality he was looking for. Or at least he thought they did. What Josh could never quite understand is how much people liked and loved the shy and quiet Josh. That people already liked him because he made them laugh and smile. He was already popular and he had always been loved.

I will not hide from the fact that Josh was an addict. At times his addiction ruled his life. The thing that made him feel more alive was what could also kill him and ultimately did. There is no other way to say it. By ignoring his addiction I allow his death to mean nothing. The fact is that some of the people he used with were the people that cared about him the most. Over the years I've gotten to personally know many of them. I will not blame any of them for what happened. If anything, I truly wish all of them a bright future. I want them to realize that they deserve to be happy. They deserve to be healthy. They deserve to live.

Addiction has affected many of us. If you've ever loved someone who was an addict then you too were addicted. You were addicted to doing anything to keep them alive. But ultimately you realize that there is nothing you can do. You can love, support or even enable them but you can't force them to get clean. That is something only they can do. But first they have to realize that they deserve to live.