VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A Deltona mom is on a mission to ship a life-saving therapy after she misplaced her son to medication final yr.
Stephanie Smith mentioned her 24-year-old son, Tyler Lynch battled with medication for years however labored onerous to maintain sober and he was for the final two years. Nonetheless, he died from a drug overdose on March 31, 2019.
“He was a tattoo artist; he was a chef. He beloved life. I by no means thought in 1,000,000 years that I’d be going by this. My son was doing good,” Stephanie Smith mentioned.
Smith mentioned since her son’s loss of life, she turned her ache into energy and is working with moms by her Fb group known as “Overdosed a Household Damaged.” Smith is working to distribute free Narcan to households who want it.
“I don’t need every other mother going by what I’m going by regularly which is waking up figuring out your son’s not going to name you,” she mentioned.
She acquired her first donated cargo of Narcan on Wednesday. Narcan is a nasal spray that quickly reverses an opioid overdose.
“Had he had that Narcan, he’d most likely be nonetheless alive right now,” mentioned Smith.
Whereas Smith is licensed to coach and administer the spray, it’s not required in response to Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood.
“You may simply purchase it over-the-counter. There’s no prescription wanted, there’s no coaching wanted. It’s nostril spray,” he mentioned.
Sheriff Chitwood mentioned Volusia County remains to be within the thick of an opioid disaster and confirmed Information 6 physique digicam video of deputies responding to drug overdoses. He mentioned after a county-wide push in 2017, each deputy is now outfitted with Narcan.
“Final yr presently we had 116 overdose deaths, okay. This yr, we’re at 259 in order that quantity is exponentially rising. I might encourage anyone, when you’ve got an habit in your life, be certain Narcan is current since you would completely save someone’s life,” mentioned Sheriff Chitwood.
Smith wholeheartedly agrees.
“I need to save a life. I need to save youngsters’s life. I need a mother to get up within the morning and say, thank God my baby is alive right now due to the Narcan,” she mentioned.
For extra info on both donate Narcan or search providers, contact Stephanie Smith at [email protected] be part of the group, “Overdosed a family broken” on Fb.
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