TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — There is a new billboard display at the intersection of South Dale Mabry Highway and West Swann Avenue.
It’s a warning about the dangers of fentanyl organized by people who lost their loved ones to drugs.
Debra Flanigan, from Riverview, is one of the mothers involved. She said her life turned upside down the day her daughter Casey died from an accidental fentanyl overdose.
“Still to this day, I think it’s a nightmare,” Casey’s mother, Debra Flanigan, said. “That she’s just going to walk in the door and say, ‘Hey Mom, I’m home,'” but that’s never going to happen.”
She’s found purpose in showing Casey’s name and face on billboards across America.
“Sometimes I have to slow down because I do have stage four cancer, but I have to fight for my daughter. I have to help fight for others,” Flanigan said.
Casey was Flanigan’s caretaker with dreams of becoming a lawyer. But Flanigan said everything changed because of a fake pill.
“Just be aware of what your kids are taking,” Flanigan said. “They might not even know.”
Flanigan said Casey was given what she believed to be a Xanax pill last April. It ended up being straight fentanyl and Casey died instantly.
“It can be given to anybody. If you think that you don’t have anything to worry about that, that it would never happen to you, that’s not true,” Flanigan said. “Because I thought the same thing and it did.”
There are about 20 other angels’ faces on the billboard display next to Casey’s.
Every one of them died from accidental fentanyl overdoses and have loved ones who also wanted to warn the world that “fentanyl kills.”
Flanigan and a group of moms who call themselves the Florida Moms Fighting Back are holding a rally on Saturday, Feb. 3 to spread more awareness.
They will meet at the billboard at 2 p.m., where they will be handing out Narcan and information packets about fentanyl. They will also share their stories in hopes of saving lives.
