One night earlier this year, Jennifer Bryant Hodge and daughter Lauren were watching TV in her bedroom when their alarm system sent them an alert message on their phones, indicating that an intruder was in the kitchen.
While looking at the security camera footage, they were completely shocked. As Jennifer Bryant Hodge told the
Daily Mail, Lauren woke her up, saying “Mom, there’s a person in the kitchen... Mom, that’s Robbie.” Sure enough, the image looked just like Robbie, “beard and all.” They ran out to the kitchen to try to catch him but saw nothing.
Robbie was Jeniffer’s son who had an untimely death.
In 2016, Jennifer Bryant Hodge was coming back from the coroner where she had just said goodbye to her nephew-in-law, who had overdosed on fentanyl, an opioid normally used as pain medication but also sought after by drug users. When she arrived at her house, her son Robbie, only 23 years old, was unconscious. Not long after, he passed away—the cause was a fake Xanax he had been given, which turned out to be lethal. Having lost her brother years before to drugs, this was enough for Hodge. She devoted herself entirely to helping addicts get off drugs.
Before he died, Robbie Hodge had a major impetus behind
Realty 4 Rehab, an organization of real estate agents like Jennifer, whose goal is “saving lives, stopping addiction.” They donate a third of their commissions for a treatment of someone they know or to a general fund that can help people kick their habits.
Hodge had his first brush with the danger of prescription drugs when he had surgery at age 16 and developed an addiction to the painkiller oxycontin. When his mom received a generous donation to help pay his way through treatment, she promised to help others like someone had helped her son.
Robbie had been really excited about the
project and got heavily involved, talking to lots of young people about the importance of avoiding addiction or getting help if they were addicted. His mom found out that “he had saved a lot of lives... he got a lot of people off drugs.” When his mom asked if he wanted to be responsible for the organization, he simply said, “Mom, GOD’s GOT this.” Jennifer Bryant Hodge remembers him as “one of the most giving, caring, loving people you'll ever meet.”
While Hodge has been even more committed to the work of helping addicts get the treatment and rehab they need since Robbie’s death, Robbie’s sisters have also got involved in the fight. Ashleigh runs a Facebook page called Sibling Support for Overdose & Addiction, and Lauren has had public speaking engagements about the need for outreach.
But Robbie’s story has taken an even more amazing twist this year! So when Hodge saw the CCTV footage that was captured this year, what did she think of the whole incident?
“Now, I feel like he was letting me know he is happy in heaven.” While she admits it’s very strange and had never seen any ghosts before, she was glad to have a moment with her son, however fleeting. “I’m in awe—why did this happen to me?” she told the
Mail. It’s a way to remember the son she lost, who has really never left her or her family. As Robbie’s sister Ashleigh posted on
Facebook during Thanksgiving at the anniversary of her brother’s death: “Gratitude and grief coexist, but they never cancel each other out [...] I love you Robbie, ALWAYS.” For the Hodge family, this love has lasted beyond life itself.
