MICHAEL FLOERSCH, 28
JOHNSON County
DIED: APR. 25, 2022
‘My son’s life mattered’
Michael Floersch was the youngest of six kids. At family gatherings, he was the funny one, cutting up and having fun.
“From cheek to cheek, he just had a huge smile,” said his mother, Sandy Toothman.
In sixth grade, Michael crashed his bike and severely tore his ACL.That accident would alter his life, keep him from playing sports and end his childhood dream of becoming a police officer.
And, as he would later tell his sister, he believed the opioids doctors gave him after several surgeries throughout his young life would be the beginning of his drug addiction.
“In his good days, he was probably one of the nicest young men you could meet, he was always courteous,” Toothman said. Parents of Michael’s friends would tell her that they loved when he came over because “he’ll sit and talk with us.”
“And it was just that way,” she said. “And then, you know, horrible things happened.”
As her son’s drug addiction only got worse, Toothman began to hear about fentanyl. At one point, she cautioned him that the synthetic opioid could be in other drugs without him knowing. Michael assured her he was OK.
Because of his addiction, Michael lost interest in things close to him, such as hunting and fishing. Even family, his mom said.
“But the one thing he had closest to his heart was the Kansas City Chiefs,” Toothman said. “He lived for the games.”
She last saw her youngest child just hours before he died April 25, 2022. He was excited about introducing her to his new girlfriend, who she would later find out he had just proposed to. He seemed happy.
In Michael’s obituary, the family mentioned his closest friends and how important they were to him. And after she lost her son, she worried about them.
On April 15, 2023 — 10 days before the first anniversary of Michael’s death — his best friend was found dead. The autopsy would later show, Toothman said, that he, too, died of an apparent overdose.
People need to know, Toothman said, what the drug is costing families in the Kansas City area.
“It’s important to me to make the statement that my son’s life mattered,” she said. “… It’s been 18 months since Michael passed away and some days it feels like just yesterday.
“I still cry every day because I have to live my life without my son in it.”
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