COCOA, Fla. — Tens of thousands of Americans die each year from fentanyl overdoses, and while statistics show the number of overdoses is leveling off, the problem is still considered an epidemic. 

What You Need To Know

  • CDC data shows fentanyl overdoses decreased from 76,226 in 2022 to 74,702 in 2023, after several years of increases

  • Patti O'Keefe is working with the nonprofit Victoria's Voice to help prevent overdoses, like the one her son Phil died from in 2023

  • She says she keeps Narcan — which is used to reverse opioid overdoses — in her car, just in case she comes across someone who needs it

Patti O'Keefe wanted the best for her son Phil.

“He was so young and he had so much to look forward to,” said O'Keefe. “And because he was a gifted musician, I wanted so much to see him to do something with the potential of his music.”

As a home economics teacher for 30 years, O'Keefe taught high school students life skills, and the dangers of addiction — a message she also shared with Phil, her youngest son.

“He heard all of this from his mother, and, unfortunately, I didn’t even know — I wasn’t even aware of what he was going through,” said O'Keefe.

But O'Keefe says her son battled depression and was addicted to alcohol and drugs. At one point, she said her son used an opioid pill he didn’t know was laced with fentanyl.

As a result, her 33-year-old son died from a fentanyl overdose.

“You just don’t think it’s going to happen to your child," O'Keefe said. "And it does, and it did, and there is an epidemic of fentanyl right now, and it needs to stop."

“His time on earth was short,” O'Keefe added.

O'Keefe now surrounds herself with pictures — reminders of her youngest son. She still grieves the loss of her son a year and a half ago, but she says she can’t let the pain consume her.

“I’m his mother — I carried him for nine months," she said. "You can’t expect to feel the same. So I’ve had to give that to God and say, 'What it is that you want me to do now with this pain?'”

And then through a television documentary, O'Keefe discovered Victoria’s Voice, a nonprofit founded by David and Jackie Siegel, who lost their 18-year-old daughter Victoria to a drug overdose in 2015.

“I was deeply touched by what they went through as parents," O'Keefe said. "Because, unfortunately, Victoria had an addiction and, unfortunately, so did my son Phil. And I could relate so much to what they went through as parents.”

O'Keefe is now dedicating her life to advocating for the prevention of fentanyl overdoses.

She even keeps Narcan — which is used to reverse opioid overdoses — in her car, just in case she comes across someone who needs it.

“You want to help in any way, shape or form that you can, and this is right there so you can save a life, right away,” said O'Keefe.

CDC data shows fentanyl overdoses actually decreased from 76,226 in 2022 to 74,702 in 2023, after several years of increases.