Olivia Burke
A grieving mother has urged parents to educate their children on the dangers of drugs after losing both of her kids to fentanyl-related overdoses within the space of 10 months.
Tammy Lyon-Gordon has told how she is 'living with the worst pain possible' while trying to navigate life without her son Tyler and daughter Jenna, who tragically both passed away in their family home in California's Riverside County.
Tyler was just 18 when he was found unconscious in his bedroom on the morning of 23 April 2020 after he consumed what he believed to be Percocet, which he had purchased from someone on social media, according to Mercury News.
It later emerged that the drug was laced with fentanyl - a highly addictive and fast-acting opioid which is 100 times more potent than morphine - which resulted in him suffering from a fatal overdose.
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His cause of death was listed as acute fentanyl intoxication.
Less than 12 months after Tyler's untimely passing, his mother was dealt another devastating blow when her 16-year-old daughter, Jenna, also passed away at home after taking counterfeit Xanax.
It turned out that the teenage schoolgirl had actually been given pure fentanyl.
In a cruel twist of fate, she was also found unconscious in her bedroom, exactly like her older brother was.
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Jenna was found alongside her boyfriend Raymond Gene Tyrrell Jr, who was also incapacitated, before the pair were rushed to hospital.
She could not be saved and was pronounced dead, but the 18-year-old man was resuscitated and survived.
Tyrrell was later arrested and charged with murder in connection with the youngster's death, but was ultimately convicted of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter on 31 July this year, seeing him slapped with a three-year sentence.
Speaking of her heartbreak, mum Tammy said that the jury's decision 'brought her to her knees'.
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"I feel like I have lost my daughter all over again," she said in a victim impact statement. "On February 24, 2021, my whole world changed for a second time - I lost my child at the hands of another person.
"While the paramedics were in my house trying to save my daughter, I was on my knees begging God to let me switch places with Jenna, to take me instead. I've lost 95 pounds since Jenna's life was taken.
"I had already lost my 18-year-old son. I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't breathe because of my constant anxiety.
"I have been battling depression for over three years, I'm in constant flight-or-fight mode."
Tammy said her 'purpose in life' was being a mother, and this has now been 'stolen' from her due to fentanyl.
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The grief-stricken mum said her children's deaths still 'don't seem real' to her, and she encouraged other parents to educate their kids on the deadly risks which come with taking illegal substances.
She told US news outlet KTLA: "It [fentanyl] really is the invisible killer.
"They had no idea they were taking fentanyl," Tammy continued. "To have them die at home, a place they felt safe, haunts me every day.
"I’m living with the worst pain possible. Speak with your kids about the dangers. Don’t lose them to this drug."
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The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have warned Americans that it only takes a tiny amount of fentanyl to trigger a deadly reaction, with Deputy Special Agent Anthony Chrysantis making an emotional please.
"This drug that's coming in from the cartels is out there, and you need to be careful because if you get your hands on the wrong stuff, you can die," he said.
Chrysantis said the DEA are currently seizing record levels of fentanyl, in both pill and powder form.
According to a 2023 report by the National Center for Health Statistics deaths by overdose involving the drug spiked some 279 percent between 2016 and 2023 in the US.