NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Fentanyl caused or contributed to death in 76% of fatal overdoses in 2021, that's according to the Virginia Department of Health.
We spoke with a Newport News woman who lost her daughter to the drug.
Lisa Reed comes to the Remembrance Garden at Peninsula Memorial Park to do just that - remember her youngest daughter Kaitlyn.
“She was a mom, she had two beautiful little girls who she absolutely adored,” Lisa Reed said.
Kaitlyn was just 23 when she died of fentanyl poisoning. Lisa says she still remembers the phone call on January 15, 2021.
“He just somberly said hey, our little girl is gone, and I said what do you mean she’s gone, where did she go? He said she’s gone she’s dead, and I just immediately dropped to the floor,” Lisa said.
She said she knew right then that fentanyl had claimed her daughter's life, a young woman battling depression and PTSD, fighting through the pain.
“I know for a fact if my daughter knew that there was fentanyl in that pill she would have never taken it,” she said.
Lisa is now hoping to talk to local students about the dangers of the drug.
“It’s not worth it, you’re not going to get high off of this, you’re going to die it’s that simple, you’re going to die,” she said.
Lisa took us to see Kaitlyn's urn.
“I just came by to say hi, I know you’re good, I know you’re well, I know you probably miss not being here with your girls we think about you all the time and we just miss you, we really miss you," Lisa said. “I never tell her goodbye, I always say I’ll see you next time.”
Sunday is National Fentanyl Awareness Day and that would have also been Kaitlyn's 25th birthday.
