The call came in 2010. Like so many before it and so many after, the voice on the other end was of a mother, screaming in panic as her son lie motionless and covered in his own vomit.

“I need an ambulance right away,” she screamed. ” My son just overdosed on heroin. Please! He’s unconscious. Please hurry! … He’s only 21!”

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“OK, can you see his chest rise and fall?” he asked.

“Very little,” she said. “Very little, sir. Very little. … Please, hurry!”

“…Can you roll him on his side? … We don’t want him to choke on his vomit.”

As the operator guided her, an ambulance and two fire engines raced over.

Michael Schofield, the Orland Fire Protection District’s fire chief and father of Broncos tackle Michael Schofield, was on that call and has been for so many others just like it, guiding families through the hysteria and feelings of being prisoners in their own home, as addictions consume not just the addict, but everyone associated.

That 21-year-old seemingly minutes away from death lived to see 22. But he was one of many heroin overdose cases contributing to a sharp rise in Illinois and the nation as a whole.

Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heroin use has more than doubled in the past decade among adults aged 18-25 years, and overdose deaths have more than quadrupled since 2010. Illinois saw a 19.6 increase in heroin-related overdose deaths from 2014 to 2015.

Locally, the total number of overdose deaths from opioids — both prescription painkillers and illegal opiates such as heroin — in Colorado decreased in 2016 by about 6 percent, a rare year-over-year drop, according to recent preliminary figures from the state’s health department. But heroin deaths grew by 23 percent, from 160 to 197 fatalities.

In 2009, Schofield senior helped to organize a public forum in Chicago called “In the Blink of an Eye” to raise awareness and educate young adults and their families about the dangers of heroin and other opioids. From the beginning, his son wanted to play a part and the two have addressed the issue annually.

On Wednesday, Schofield and his fiancée, U.S. women’s national hockey team star Kendall Coyne, will return to Illinois, to share some of those same stories, with the hope of encouraging youth athletes to be cognizant of their decisions and their impact years down the line. That chilling 911 call from 2010 will be shared, as will videos and stories from other speakers, most of whom have experienced or witnessed addiction first-hand.

“Michael’s whole life, I’ve been a firefighter,” he said. “So he sees the effect it has on me. … For someone like Michael to stand up and talk to these kids, they’re going to listen closer to Michael than they are to me as a fire chief or a counselor or a police office.”

While still a lineman University of Michigan, the 26-year-old Schofield started speaking at the forum, retelling stories of his high school and college years, his memories of witnessing teammates get off track and dabble in drugs, of the two men he played with growing up who, to the surprise of many, used heroin and lost their lives to the drug in their early 20s.

“I lost touch with them after high school, but during high school, I never really thought of them as kids who would get into hard-core drugs,” the Broncos’ fourth-year tackle said. “So it was really surprising when I found out about that and it just motivated me more to want to help with my dad and just help spread awareness.”

Wednesday’s event, held at McCook Athletic & Exposition about 15 miles southwest of Chicago, was organized by Cook County Commissioner (17th district) Sean Morrison and is co-sponsored by the Orland Fire Protection District and the National Football Players Fathers Association (NFPFA). Joining Schofield and Coyne as speakers will be NFPFA chairman Curtis Randle El, the father of former Steelers receiver Antwaan Randle El.

In a country embroiled by the opioid epidemic, the members of the NFPFA face of a second layer of fear, with sons playing in a league that has been lambasted for its liberal and allegedly illegal distribution of habit-forming painkillers.

The concern is real and constant.

“Absolutely. But you build a trust in your son because Michael has lived this, watching what my program does and speaking at the program,” the senior Schofield said. “At this event, we have a former college baseball play who became addicted to drugs just for that reason. He was a pitcher, he threw his arm out, he wound up sitting on the bench for half a year. The next year he had the same thing. He had an arm injury and said: ‘I’m here to play. I’m not sitting on the bench. Give me the pain medicine.’ And he became addicted. After college it got worse and his life spiraled down the drain.

“The NFPFA is extremely concerned about that, too. The use of pain medicine and making sure that our sons — you know, the NFL is a big business. We want to make sure they’re educated and understand and that’s why we’re involved. We try to teach kids at an early age: ‘Be careful. Football is a short career. Get your education, get your degree.’ And that was a big thing with Michael. Don’t worry about the NFL. Worry about getting a degree from Michigan.”

This week, the son will be passing along the message he’s received for years.

“When I talk, I tell stories of guys in high school who were better athletes than me and should have gone farther in football than me, but just couldn’t stay in straight line,” he said. “They were messing up off the field with drugs or their grades. So I just kind of share stories about that and use that to talk to kids and just try to relate them. … Whatever you want to succeed at, you just want to make sure you make the right decisions along the way.”