FENTON, Mo. — Missouri state agencies are alerting the public of an increase in child deaths linked to fentanyl poisoning.
The Missouri Child Fatality Review Program (CFRP) Annual Report for 2022 reveals there was a 500% jump in fentanyl deaths among kids under 5 years old in 2022.
In 2022, the deaths of 43 children across the state of Missouri were linked to Fentanyl or Fentanyl mixed with other drugs.
Of those, 20 minors were between the ages of 15 and 17. While 20 deaths were in children under age 5.
The overall number of Fentanyl-related child deaths nearly doubled.
For teens and young adults, local opioid awareness groups say they're seeing a rise in the use of counterfeit pills and falsely marked pills leading to overdoses.
It’s a trend that led to tragedy for one mother living in the Fenton, Missouri, area.
Our 5 On Your Side team met with Melinda Myers, who told us about her son, Gabriel.
"Just an overall very smart, talented, athletic, loving boy," Myers said. “I would do anything to bring him back. Anything.”
Gabriel Myers passed away in November of 2021 from acute fentanyl poisoning. He was 19-years-old.
Melinda said she believes Gabriel may have used Fentanyl before the day he died. She recalls previously finding him in a heavily impaired state.
“There were two other instances prior to his passing that I found Gabriel sitting in his bed just kind of slouched like this, kind of foaming at the mouth a little bit,” she said.
Melinda said she doesn't think Gabriel intended to use Fentanyl the day he died. She said she believes her son took pills he bought from a dealer that were marked as Xanax.
"We were hoping to go after the people that sold him these marked as Xanax pills," she said.
But, police said that’s difficult to prove. Melinda explained what she was told by law enforcement.
"The purchase was done on November 6. However, Gabriel passed away on November 10. Because he passed away outside of 72 hours of purchasing those pills, they could not be 100% sure that those are the pills that Gabriel passed away from," she said.
Melinda and her husband went searching for answers on their own.
"I have pills which we had tested ourselves, and they did come up positive for Fentanyl, no Xanax," she said. "They were Fentanyl."
PreventED, a St. Louis-based drug prevention group, has seen a rise in accidental overdoses across the metro area over the past few years.
“People may not even realize they’re taking an opioid.” said Jenny Armbruster, the deputy executive director of PreventEd. “Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are really infiltrating almost all the drug supply these days.”
Melinda said she thinks of Gabriel every day and misses the small moments the most.
“Every night came into our room, tucked my husband and I in at night, hugged us and kissed us good night saying 'Sweet dreams, mum. I love you.' every night," she said. "There aren't many, 19-year-olds who do that."
Melinda said she's learned that her family's story of loss is not an unusual one. She hopes to spread awareness with Gabriel's story and encourage people to find solutions to the problem of fentanyl without judgment.
"When they hear that your child died from Fentanyl, the comments, the things that have been said to me, the assumptions: horrible. Horrible. I know this wasn't something that he did to end his life."
Melinda wants to make sure other moms don’t feel the same loss. She adds, "If anything good came of it, its that he is able to help other people continue to live.
Gabriel’s organs are giving the gift of life.
"He's in 14 different States as well as Asia," she said. "His heart valve saved a 17-year-old young man and a 23-year-old young man.
And Gabriel's memory is pushing forward a movement.
“He's on the Faces of Fentanyl Awareness Wall in Virginia," she said. "He's on a billboard at Manchester and Mccausland with 9 other people to bring awareness about this epidemic that we're in.”
PreventED has resources and tips for families.
In August, Nolaxone, the over-the-counter emergency medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, was rolled out to the public. Jenny from PreventED says, it’s important for everyone to have this medication in their home, even if they don’t suspect their loved ones are using opioids like Fentanyl.
A common brand, Narcan, sells for around $44.95 retail price at both Walgreens and CVS.