FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. β Wednesday night, a community conversation was held at Edison High School in Fairfax County.
It was an emotional, but important conversation about fentanyl. The first speakers were Sean and Afrodita Foster.
In December, the Foster's sat down with WUSA9 to spread awareness about the dangers of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that took the life of their son Cayden.
His mother, Afrodita, was the one to find him. She had gone to his bedroom to wake him up.
"I tried to wake him up and he didn't wake up. I had no idea what happened. I just remember thinking what happened?"
She called her husband, told him she had called 911, and that she thought their son was dead.
The Fosters say police arrived and searched Cayden's bedroom. They found two blue pills in a case attached to his cell phone, that they believed were Percocets and sent the pills out for testing.
"There was nothing in it but fentanyl," said Sean.
Wednesday night, they spoke to a packed auditorium. The goal of the event was to destigmatize talking about fentanyl and remove that "it won't happen to my family" mentality.
"We were those parents a little over a year ago, that thought we didn't need to come to a town hall like this," said Afrodita Wednesday night.
"It's sad that events like this in the country are necessary but they are," said Sean.
So far for the 2023-2024 school year, FCPS says there have been four confirmed and four suspected overdoses on school grounds. They announced there have been two confirmed and three suspected student overdoses off of the school grounds.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis warned the parents and students, how even a very small amount of fentanyl, can be deadly.
"A deadly concoction or dose of fentanyl can fit on the tip of this pencil," said Chief Davis.
The room was nearly packed with both Fairfax County students and parents.
"I really wanted to hear if this fentanyl scare was what we've heard," said Kristina Robertson.
She and her husband Grayson have two daughters who are 8th graders in Fairfax County Public Schools.
"I was in tears half of the time because it could be our children," said Robertson.
FCPS Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid told WUSA9 that the conversation about fentanyl needs to be destigmatized.
"We're only gonna solve this issue if our communities come together and stay in conversation with one another and problem solve together," said Dr. Reid.
"We just don't want other families to be standing where we are," said Foster.
At the end of the conversation, they did a quick training on how to use Narcan, a brand of Naloxone. They also gave out free boxes of the over-the-counter opioid overdose treatment, to anyone who wanted.
For more info about getting training in Fairfax County, click here.
For more info about training in Arlington County, click here.
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