In an effort to raise awareness surrounding the perils of drug use — specifically opioid addiction — a Delaware mother is releasing an image of her identifying her son’s body in a morgue following his fatal overdose.
Nora Sheehan of Rehoboth Beach lost her 29-year-old son Andrew Jugler after he reportedly took a lethal dose of xylazine and fentanyl, the New York Post reports. He had an eight-year battle with addiction, the Post adds.
Sheehan’s release of the photo on Thursday comes months after her son’s death in October, but her intention is to dissuade other people from taking drugs and raise awareness around the impact of the opioid crisis, according to the Post.
RELATED READ: Americans more likely to die of overdose than car crash, new report finds
“Holding my dead son in my arms, this is the picture of addiction,” she said of her son, as reported by SWNS via Fox News. “This is what happens.”
(WARNING: The photo below may be disturbing to some readers.)
Sheehan told the Epoch Times that her son "succumbed to his demons" after struggling with addiction since 2010. She said OxyContin was Andrew's foot in the door, but he went on to use heroin and, later, fentanyl.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2016 there were 154 opioid-related overdose deaths in Delaware — which tops the national rate of 13.3 deaths per 100,000 persons. And the state was among those with statistically significant increases in drug overdose death rates from 2016 to 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.“I never thought heroin and fentanyl were as prevalent in my community as they are. It’s an epidemic. A lot of us just don’t care until it comes into our lives,” Sheehan told Fox News.