CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. -- It's been nearly one year since Paul Collins lost his daughter. Ashley Collins was 27 years old when she overdosed on heroin. 

"There are things that I would've liked to do with her," Collins said. "See her get married, see her have children ... all that has been taken away."

Following his daughter's death, Collins wrote a letter asking for help from President Donald Trump. The retired Troy firefighter briefly meet the president at his Albany campaign rally in April 2016.

The letter read in part: "I am writing to you sir in hope that you can help us fight the terrible scourge that is ruining our families across the country. After years of helping and serving, I have now been devastated by the loss of my 27 year old daughter to heroin-fentanyl."

Collins later forwarded the letter to Congressman Paul Tonko, hoping to get more funding to fight this epidemic. On Tuesday night at the State of the Union address, Tonko delivered Collins' request directly to President Trump as he entered the room. 

"[President Trump] said 'we'll talk,' and then I caught him again as he left the podium and I said, 'we need to do this opioid funding,' and he nodded," Tonko said. "It begins that dialogue that I think is so important."

During Tonko's interaction with Trump, the congressman held a photo of Collins from that Albany campaign rally.

"I was, for the moment, very pleased and happy," Collins said. "Thankful for Mr. Tonko for taking the time and effort."

Like so many cases, Collins says his daughter started with painkillers before switching to heroin. Now he wants to see pharmaceutical companies help pay for the treatments needed for addicts.

"I hope that the president can see that these people ain't all junkies, they're family members, and they all need help," Collins said.

Tonko has been pushing for the passage of a new bill called the Addiction Treatment Access Improvement Act, which would enable nurses to be able to prescribe a pain medication to help people with addiction.

"And when we can put names and faces on this crisis, it’s a disease that’s claiming far too many of loved ones, family members neighbors. Impacting schools and our communities, we need to move forward with it,” Tonko said.