A concerned mother’s daughter passed away on this day in 2019, as she had to make one of the most difficult decisions of her life. That is, she had to disconnect her daughter from life support.
Brittney Fisher, 24, was pronounced dead on September 24, 2019, succumbing to a deadly does of fentanyl.
American Family News spoke to Fisher’s mother, Carolyn Collins, who admitted her daughter had “a secret addiction” to heroin. A father’s struggle with substance abuse was present in her family, but according to Collins, “it wasn’t Brittney’s kind of lifestyle.” But as she grew older, a personal battle against drugs began, influenced by a high school boyfriend. “It was until the last year of her life, in November 2018, that I found out she had been using heroin,” Collins shared. “Track marks on her arm were pointed out by a friend.” Her mother had plans to talk to her the following day, but Fisher (pictured right) had gone into labor. There was no longer a way to tiptoe around the issue any longer, as the baby was born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a condition that occurs in newborns when they are exposed to addictive substances, such as opioids, during pregnancy.
In very small amounts, fentanyl is a deadly synthetic opioid. It can be combined with other drugs, like heroin and cocaine, for example. It’s inexpensive to manufacture and extremely potent, making the other drugs more powerful, addictive, and profitable.
Counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl are extremely prevalent. According to laboratory tests conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration, “the DEA Laboratory has found that, of the fentanyl-laced fake prescription pills analyzed in 2022, six out of ten now contain a potentially lethal dose of fentanyl.” Many are made to look like prescription opioids such as oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin), and alprazolam (Xanax); or stimulants like amphetamines (Adderall) and have been discovered in every U.S. state. “When I first asked Brittney about it, she lied, but I could tell she was ashamed and it didn’t take long to discover she was a full-blown addict,” her mother said. “She was trying to hide it, just wanting to make people happy and proud of her, doing all she could to avoid the stigma of being a drug addict.”
After a lengthy hospital stay, the newborn baby was released to Collins’ custody. She also welcomed her daughter into the household, hoping to discourage her from “going back out to the lifestyle she was living.”
September 21, 2019, was “a normal day” for the family. “It was late and Brittney stopped by my bedroom to say ‘I love you’ on the way to the shower before going off to bed,” Collins said. “She never came out of the bathroom.” A younger sister found her lifeless body, and according to her mother, “that’s when the real horror began.” While the mother is unsure what drug her daughter may have been attempting to use, she said, “the toxicology reports came back and Brittany only had fentanyl in her system.”
For the next few years, Collins was “numb,” but still had four other children to care for. “It was hard physically and mentally, affecting my relationships with my children and then also with my husband.” The grieving mother admitted that she attempted to “drink the pain away,” but soon realized it was destroying the only family that remained.
In this moment, she became an advocate for other families who also lost their children to fentanyl. “I began sharing the dangers of fentanyl poisoning on various social media platforms and joined groups of people doing the same.”
For parents, Collins said, “If you suspect something, even if you don’t have the proof, speak to your children about it.” She emphasizes the importance of educating oneself and sharing information about the lethality of fentanyl. “When it’s your children, ask questions even if they think it feels like you’re being hard on them,” she offered. “If it makes you uncomfortable, that’s a good thing, far better than losing a child.”
