From KACU:
Like so many Americans, Krystal Lewis spent years hearing about the Fentanyl crisis. She had some Narcan at home, just in case. But still, as a longtime resident of Abilene, she didn’t think it was something HER community had to worry about, “It wasn’t until June the 12th of 2023 that I discovered fentanyl is right in my in my own house. And that was my son, Jerrin Hernandez’s first overdose,” said Lewis.
Lewis noticed Jerrin acting strangely the night before. That morning, when she went to wake him up, it was obvious something was wrong, “He was not breathing, and he was purple and his lips were purple, and he was making this awful gurgling sound… And so immediately I ran and got the Narcan and called 911.” This is Lewis telling her story to the Abilene city council earlier this summer. She told the crowd how Jerrin survived but suffered from short-term memory loss. He overdosed again that August, and, finally, a third time in December 2023. “I am one of the mothers who lost their child to fentanyl last year.”
Krystal Lewis was one of several people who came to this June city council meeting to talk about Abilene’s fentanyl problem. They told city leaders they needed to be doing much more. Most attendees were not prepared for the testimonies they heard that morning. That might be because, if someone hasn’t been personally affected by fentanyl, it seems like an epidemic that lives in the headlines, not their backyard. But Dr. John Russell, an emergency physician at Hendrix Health in Abilene, says the crisis is here. And it’s growing, “We have seen an increase in the overall numbers of fentanyl-related, illnesses and deaths. the most likely outcome was somebody overdoses on fentanyl.”
Jerrin and his mom, Krystal Lewis
Compared to other narcotics that land people in the ER, Russell says an overdose from fentanyl is far worse. “If somebody is using heroin, that’s probably the closest thing. but with fentanyl, it just occurs so much more rapidly. People stop breathing from opioid overdoses just because they don’t even care to breathe.” It’s become such an issue in Abilene, that just last month, some local organizations installed a Narcan vending machine near downtown.
A few weeks after the city council meeting, I met with Krystal Lewis and her husband. Since Jerrin’s death, they’ve learned everything they can about the epidemic, and want to share that information, “76% of overdoses 14 to 23 are fentanyl-related, and 70% of those are males. People who have experienced a non-fatal drug overdose are at a higher risk of a fatal overdose than those who have not.”
Lewis says Jerrin’s death devastated the family. But two months afterward, she suddenly felt called to DO something, “ I woke up on Saturday morning and this is placed on my heart and immediately just started making phone calls and, you know, we really didn’t know what we were doing at all. And, you know, that’s what the kind of beautiful thing God takes the unqualified, makes him qualified, and he makes a way. And I know that he is going to make Jerrin’s Hope possible.”
Jerrins Hope is what she’s calling a regional youth treatment center she’s trying to start in Abilene. She envisions a center that offers a comprehensive range of services, including mental health support and substance abuse counseling. And while the center’s mission will be deeply rooted in faith, Lewis wants it to be a place that can help everyone. “It is a faith-based rehabilitation center, and there is I mean, we’re not going to say no to any kid that wants to come. Does it matter if you’re satanic or, you know what color the color of your skin is, or what your sexual preference is, none of that matters.”
With her husband Huery, Lewis is hard at work making their dream of the center become a reality. She’s also making sure the community doesn’t forget about the harms of fentanyl. From sharing her testimony at public events to speaking with local law enforcement, Lewis is determined that Jerrin and others like him aren’t forgotten. And it seems her efforts are paying off. Sargent Dale Watson agrees the crisis can’t be ignored. He’s with the Taylor County Sheriff’s Office and has been in law enforcement for 27 years. He calls the rise in Abilene’s fentanyl cases “the quickest growth of any drug I’ve ever seen, I haven’t seen anything like it in my career other than heroin and crack So my advice is for parents to make sure the kids know that if they take a pill, if it’s going to be fentanyl, it’s going to have to on it’s not going to be a legitimate pill. It just doesn’t even exist anymore, you know, on the street.”
Watson says the sheriff’s office has focused on targeting narcotics traffickers, often starting with minor players and working up to larger networks. He says most fentanyl in Abilene can be traced back to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. As Watson sees the epidemic extend across demographics in Abilene, he welcomes things like Jerrin’s Hope and says the community desperately needs more resources for rehabilitation and prevention, “We do not invest enough in that. And the number of people in this town and every city in America that has drug addicts, who would desire not to be, but there’s not enough resources available. So anytime anyone says, hey, we’re thinking of doing a rehabilitation center or thinking of funding this, I’m always for it.”
While Jerrin’s Hope is still in its early stages, Krystal Lewis hopes to have it off the ground in the next few years.
