Photo: Courtesy of Patricia Saldivar
On the morning of June 1, Cassandra Saldivar died after taking a counterfeit Percocet pilllaced with fentanyl— and now her heartbroken mom is on a mission to raise awareness about the deadly drug.
Patricia Saldivar rented a billboard near the AT&T football stadium in Arlington, home to the Dallas Cowboys, with a picture of Cassandra smiling alongside the message: “1 pill that’s all it took. Fentanyl kills. R.I.P. 06/01/21. In memory of beloved daughter Cassandra.”
“I was in the house or two months, could not get out of bed, could not get off the couch, and I said, ‘I have to do something for her, something for others,'” Saldivar, of Arlington, tells PEOPLE. “I have to do something so her death is not in vain.”
“Before this I didn’t know about people getting laced drugs,” she continues, “I was like ‘if I had known, I would have educated my children.’ "
Cassandra Saldivar, center, her mom Patricia, at right and other loved ones.Courtesy of Patricia Saldivar
“I feel like I am doing something for her, to keep her memory alive,” says Saldivar, who also made fliers with warnings about fentanyl and passed them out at local schools.
“It can happen to anybody and she was so young,” she says of her daughter, whom she recalls as “so funny and very quiet, very mellow.”
Saldivar tells PEOPLE that around 3 a.m. that day, she received a call that her daughter, who had just moved in with a roommate, was in the hospital.
Saldivar, a medical assistant for an orthopedic surgeon, now has sole custody of Cassandra’s 2-year-old son, Ace Antonio. “In the beginning I would show him mom’s picture, he would say, ‘Why hasn’t she picked me up?’ and now he says, ‘She is sleeping in the sky.’ "
Cassandra and her son, Ace Antonio.Courtesy of Patricia Saldivar
Last week, the Drug Enforcement Administrationissued a warningdue to an “alarming” increase in the sale of fake prescription pills laced with fentanyl and methamphetamine.
“International and domestic criminal drug networks are mass-producing fake pills, falsely marketing them as legitimate prescription pills, and killing unsuspecting Americans,” the DEA said in the warning.
More than 9.5 million counterfeit pills were seized so far in 2021, according to the DEA, which is more than the last two years combined.
Over 93,000 people died of a drug overdose in the United States last year,the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) reports, with fentanyl, the synthetic opioid most commonly found in counterfeit pills, the primary cause.
Cassandra Saldivar and her son, Ace Antonio.Courtesy of Patricia Saldivar
Meanwhile, Saldivar continues on her mission to prevent more fentanyl-related deaths. The billboard is slated to be taken down on Oct. 19, but Saldivar created aGo Fund Meto pay for more time.
“I’ve had people people message me saying, ‘I’m an addict. I’m going to try to get rehab, I don’t want to die. I don’t want this pill to be the last pill I take,'” says Saldivar.
“I feel good that I’m doing something, " she adds, “that I’m being Cassandra’s voice.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please contact the SAMHSA substance abuse helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
source: people.com
