NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. (WFLA) — On Saturday, moms, fathers and different family members gathered to unfold consciousness about fentanyl overdoses in Tampa Bay.
They handed out free Naloxone, which might reverse opioid overdoses, made indicators, put up billboards, and shared their tales.
Every signal you see with an image and a reputation alongside US-19 is somebody’s little one and liked one who was killed by fentanyl.
Samantha Harvey misplaced her son, Joseph, in February of 2024.
“Joey was an amazing child, he was on the point of have a child. He is perpetually 24,” Harvey stated.
She stated having help from different mother and father is what helps her cope.
“It is an amazing help system. It has been an amazing expertise in such a tragic time. If it wasn’t for these mothers, I do not know the place I’d be,” Harvey stated. “I am new with this, I am recent, I am solely 15 months in. They’re all actually robust.”
Tammy Plakstis created Dylan’s Warriors in honor of her son, Dylan, who died in 2020.
“I felt like Dylan was all the time a particular particular person, so it helps me cope to assume, what, I’ll assist save lives via him,” she stated.
Plakstis is all the time passing out Narcan, a model of Naloxone, and instructing others use it. She stated earlier than she misplaced her son, she had no concept about fentanyl and Naloxone.
“Hold it in your automobile, hold it in your pocketbook, you by no means know the place there is usually a scenario the place any person could have sadly been uncovered to fentanyl,” she stated.
She hosts a number of gatherings in entrance of the billboards she places up.
“It does not discriminate, it occurs to anybody, and you do not essentially should be an addict for this to have an effect on you. It is harm a number of households right here in the USA,” Plakstis stated.
These moms come collectively to grieve, advocate, and attempt to forestall different mother and father from having to expertise their ache.
“Some folks say, ‘Effectively, how are you going to, how do you go on,’ and I used to be a kind of folks that stated if something have been to occur to my children, I’d’ve thought I used to be going to die,” Plakstis stated. “I do know my son died for a function and the aim is to save lots of different lives.”
“I could not save my son, however the consciousness can save plenty of different daughters and sons. Our youngsters’ lives mattered,” Harvey stated.
These moms need folks to know that they aren’t alone. Under are sources out there throughout Tampa Bay.
- Hernando Community Coalition
- Fentanyl Awareness Coalition
- Behavioral Health Centers
- Baycare
- Haven Health
They stated they may proceed to struggle to present their youngsters, and others, a voice.
