WASHINGTON — Alexander and Ashley's moms never hoped to meet like this -- spreading awareness about fentanyl in the wake of their deaths. But, it's brought them together in a shared mission, which they're bringing to Capitol Hill.
Amy Neville lost her 14-year-old son Alexander in June 2020 to fentanyl poisoning.
"Alex was a very adventurous kid, and that personality that spirit he had led him to this curiosity of wanting to experiment with drugs, and it was very easy to find what he thought was oxycodone on Snapchat," she said. "Some drug dealer sold it to him through that app, and he tried it and lost his life."
It had been laced with fentanyl.
"It was one time. Everything happened so fast. Death was not on the radar," Neville said. "Still some days it's hard to wake up and realize this is the life we're living now."
Two years earlier, Andrea Thomas lost her 32-year-old daughter, Ashley, to accidental fentanyl poisoning.
"In 2018, my daughter was given a counterfeit pill," Andrea Thomas said. "Just a half of one of these pills that looked exactly like her prescription medicine took her life almost instantly."
So, as the saying goes, they've turned their pain into purpose and are spreading awareness of the danger and prevalence of fentanyl.
In DC, for instance, a Medical Examiner's report published in 2023 said that 97% of the city's fatal overdoses in 2022 involved fentanyl -- compared to 62% of cases in 2016.
"When I lost Ashley, no one was talking about fentanyl. I didn't know what it was; my children didn't know what it was. We would have had this discussion in our home had we known," Thomas said. "And so...I began researching and then bringing awareness to everywhere that I could in the country. But then when you learn about all of the hundreds of thousands of other people that have experienced the same kind of devastation from fentanyl poisoning, you know, we can't stop we've got a long ways to go."
Thomas founded Facing Fentanyl based on her research and newfound passion, while Neville founded the Alexander Neville Foundation in her son's memory.
Both non-profits brought them to DC this week, where they've been learning about the latest challenges and developments.
Thursday, though, their focus is advocacy with lawmakers.
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., they'll be at the Dirksen Senate Building educating Senate staffers and distributing Kloxxado, which contains twice as much naloxone per spray than Narcan.
"With the prevalence of fentanyl in all of the counterfeit drugs these days and being laced into things like cocaine and heroin, you just never know when you might come across somebody that needs it," Neville said.
You can't tell from looking at the pill if it's been laced, and fentanyl does not discriminate.
Thomas hopes to also discuss with lawmakers other potential solutions to this nationwide epidemic.
"We always talk about interdiction, which the drug enforcement agencies around the country are doing a great job with, but fentanyl is flooding into our country," she said. "And so we've got to address that, you know? It gets in every corridor, whether it's legal entry, an illegal entry or through the mail. So these are things that are very important to us. Also, we want to talk about getting the education into schools. For young people, you know, if we give them the tools to safeguard themselves... it can curb these deaths in the US."