LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Mt. Washington family is turning their pain into a new purpose.
Morgan's Mission was created after 23-year-old Morgan Lewis died from fentanyl poisoning in February.
"She was just a bright light for anyone," Dylan Lewis, Morgan's brother, said. "If you did something she was always there supporting you, she was everyone's biggest cheerleader."
Laura Thurman said her daughter was at a friend's house when they decided to do cocaine.Â
"In that cocaine was fentanyl," Thurman said. "She did not, of course, know it was in there. She did not want to die that night. So we thought if this could happen to us, it could happen to Morgan, it could happen to anybody."
Morgan's Mission held its first event in Mt. Washington on Aug. 28, 2022.
Morgan's Mission held the group's first-ever event in Mt. Washington in hopes of educating others of the dangers of fentanyl. The group plans to use money raised to support awareness efforts, get Narcan and fentanyl testing strips into the community and potentially, in the future, offer scholarships.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports more than 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl, some of whom aren't aware they're taking it since it's commonly mixed into other drugs. Fentanyl is also made into pills that resemble prescription opioids.
"These people do not, when they choose to do these drugs, they're not choosing fentanyl," Thurman said. "They have no idea what they're doing and it hits you so fast after you do it you don't have time to react."
Multiple speakers from similarly focused organizations participated in the inaugural event.
"The public is not aware, and this is why people like Morgan die, because they don't know it's there," Angela Marie with Never Alone Nick Rucker Foundation said. "If we had more awareness out there maybe my son would be alive, maybe Morgan would be alive."
Morgan's Mission sold 500 t-shirts in support of the new organization.
"It grew faster than we ever believed," George Thurman, Morgan's stepfather, said. "We had no idea the community would give us the support we've had."
The young woman's family intends Sunday to be the start of a movement that will make an impact and save lives.
"I hope we can put a stop to the people that are making fentanyl and at least do something about it," said Chasity Lewis, Morgan's sister-in-law. "Because I feel like nothing's really being done about it and all these kids are dying because they're just trying something one time."
"It's horrible, to go through this," Laura Thurman said. "We never dreamed Morgan growing up we would go through this. So if we can get the awareness out there and save other families from doing this, we will."
The family hopes to have their official nonprofit status secure in around a month. They planning to hold their second event, a car show, on Sept. 17 in Mt. Washington.
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