By Jondi Gumz
Fernando Sanchez was an only child — a witty, smart, a boy who loved rap music and who kept journals.
He was 17, an 11th grader with his whole life ahead of him.
On March 26, 2020, when the lockdown prevented his family from their usual Wednesday night dinner with Aunt Marie, he decided to hang out with two friends.
Fernando Sanchez with his mom Lisa Marquez
They had bought pills they thought were Xanax — which teens consider a party drug — from a dealer on Snapchat.
But the pills were not Xanax.
They contained the opioid fentanyl, deadly in a tiny quantity equivalent to 10 to15 grains of table salt, and Tramadol, a painkiller that can cause difficulty breathing.
Fernando’s friends passed out, so Fernando walked to his best friend’s house, where his friend’s mom checked on him and called 911.
Paramedics administered Narcan, which is reported to reverse the effects of fentanyl but it didn’t revive him, recalled his mom Lisa Marquez of Gilroy.
When she went with her sister to the hospital, she thought “he’s in the ambulance — they’re able to save people” but she was told point-blank, “he didn’t make it.”
She didn’t know anything about fentanyl then.
Now Marquez, who is 43, is on a mission to educate parents and children about the dangers of buying drugs online.
“The majority of pills you order are doing to have fentanyl, it’s so cheap and easy to make,” she said. “Everything you have for yourself could be thrown away because of one pill.”
As for her son, she said, “He should have been able to make dumb mistakes and learn, but he didn’t get a second chance.”
Marquez’ first reaction: “I have to warn these kids.”
She posted on Facebook, sharing what happened, not worrying what anyone would think about her or her son.
The post was shared 2.8 thousand times.
She has become an expert on fentanyl.
“It’s odorless,” she said. “You can’t tell the difference.”
Fernando Sanchez with his mom Lisa Marquez
And if Narcan saves you from fentanyl overdose, you can end up addicted — because fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than heroin — “that’s scary,” she said.
Test strips are not the answer, she added, because if you cut the pill in half to test it in water, the fentanyl can be in the untested half.
“We just went to court,” she said.
The man who sold the deadly drug to her son got three years for that crime.
“He’ll do maybe a year,” she said. “It won’t bring my son back.”
•••
End Overdose Event
Aug. 31
Lisa Marquez will speak Thursday, Aug. 31 at the #EndOverdose event hosted by Watsonville Community Hospital, 75 Nielson St., Watsonville.
A resource fair include free Narcan will take place 3-4 p.m. Speakers from 4-5:30 p.m. in the community room will include family who have lost a loved one, survivors, first responders and health care workers.
For information, contact [email protected]