DENVER — Near the steps of Colorado's State Capitol, Andrea Thomas doesn't stop moving.
She grabs boxes of snacks, sets up folding chairs and greets new arrivals.
"It's a big day," she tells one. "Mothers across America did this. They have worked so hard."
Thomas is one of those mothers who was wounded by the loss of a child to an illicit fentanyl overdose and now works to stop other families from feeling the same pain.
When she takes a moment to stop setting up for the day's events, Thomas holds a poster of her daughter, Ashley.
"It started with my child," she said. "That's how it starts for all of us."
Ashley Romero died four years ago after taking half a pill she thought contained oxycodone, Thomas said.
"Ashley died when she was 32 years old to a half of a counterfeit pill that was made with fentanyl that took her life instantly," she said.
Thomas helped organize Sunday's event marking National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day to spread the word to other families before they feel the same loss she suffers.
"You can’t recover from a morgue, and we want the American public to know that," she said.
For many of the other families gathered in Lincoln Memorial Park, the lifesaving message came too late to stop their pain.
With a hug, Shelia English-Ogden greeted Thomas and shared her own story. She drove from Greeley to honor the memory of her son, Zach. He died at age 26 of a fentanyl overdose in late December 2019.
"They say one pill can kill, but I’m telling you one pill will kill," she said. "Even less than one pill. Zach took half a pill."
English-Ogden added her poster of Zach to the growing collection of loss that marked the park grass like tombstones.
"He had the most amazing head of curly hair," she said, pointing out a photo on the poster. "He loved his momma, and his momma loved him. And I miss him."
Thomas pushed through her grief to encourage state lawmakers to pass Colorado's new fentanyl law, which strengthens penalties for dealers and increases access to overdose-reversing naloxone and fentanyl test strips.
She said there is still much work to be done. So far this year, more than 200 people have died because of drugs in Denver. Autopsies turned up fentanyl in about half the cases.
Thomas said the pain doesn't go away, but events like the one on Sunday help.
"Days like today bring some joy back into our lives that have been devastated. Because we know today, across America, we're being heard," she said.
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