Kansas City mother hopes billboard raises awareness about danger of fentanyl
By Emily Holwick
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KANSAS CITY (KMBC) — A Kansas City mother is sharing her grief in hopes of sparing other families her pain. Her 22-year-old son died from a fentanyl-laced pill nearly two years ago. On National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day, she spoke with KMBC 9 about how she’s making her message heard, a message she hopes will save lives.
“My son was a very loving person, and he lit up the room,” said Sara Manser. “I miss my son so much. Every day, every day.”
She clings to photos of him nearly two years after she got the call that her son Ashton had died from taking a pill laced with fentanyl.
“I just dropped to my knees and I just dropped the phone, and I just started screaming,” she recalled.
Manser says her son had bought what he thought was Oxycontin, unaware that it contained a deadly dose of another drug.
“I wanted to help and save other parents from having to go through the same struggles that I’ve gone through for the past almost two years,” she said.
One way she’s doing that can be found on the side of I-70 in Kansas City. A billboard with her son’s picture and the words “fentanyl kills.”
“They started rolling it out and it was the most surreal thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life, just to see my son’s face just unravel,” she said.
The billboard bears a simple yet strong message. “One pill will kill, I mean, it really will,” said Manser.
It’s a message she hopes prompts important conversations for parents.
“If I could just save just with just with this billboard, with just one person, just a conversation starter, to talk to your kids… it will be worth it,” she said.
Manser also encourages parents to check their children’s backpacks, bedrooms and social media accounts for clues that they could be taking pills.
The billboard featuring her son is at I-70 and Brooklyn Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri. It went up Aug. 15 and will stay up for at least a month.
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