Three Inland Empire mothers who lost their children to fentanyl team up to raise awareness

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- Three Inland Empire mothers bonded by tragedy are joining forces to take on the fentanyl crisis.

Stefanie Cavanas, Desiree Solorio and Nylla Cardenas were all strangers -- until they all lost children to fentanyl overdoses.

"I'm speaking for my baby, and for the rest of the babies who didn't make it," said Cavanas, whose 25-year-old son Adrian died on Jan. 25, 2021.

"(Adrian) was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 15. And if you're familiar with leukemia, it's a five-year treatment," said Cavanas, who explained that the monthly spinal taps her son underwent took an incredible toll on his body.

"It really did a number on his back. It was induced addiction because the doctors gave him opioids. After his treatment, he was addicted to opioids, so he looked for them out in the streets."

Cavanas said she remembers the night of his death like it was yesterday.

"He went to cash his paycheck," she said. "I remember him putting gas in the car. He went to go buy clothes because he was going to go out that night."

But when the friends he was supposed to meet with that evening came to the house asking where Adrian was, they checked the upstairs bedroom.

"They found him kneeling, right next to his bed as if he was praying, and they turned him around and he was already purple," Cavanas recalled. "They gave me about three hours to spend with him, and I said my goodbyes to my son in a body bag."

Not long after Adrian's death, Cavanas met Desiree Solorio through social media. Solorio's 18-year-old son Anthony also died from taking fentanyl.

"It was a shock because I didn't know anything about fentanyl," said Solorio, who like Cavanas, doesn't believe her son knew the pill he was taking contained fentanyl.

"I had to sit there and Google it, and research it. What is fentanyl? What is going on? My son is not this person."

Cavanas and Solorio later met Nylla Cardenas, who said her 17-year-old daughter Alaiza died from taking a pill laced with fentanyl on April 20, 2021.

"When I found her, she was still warm. I never would have imagined I'd find my daughter like that," Cardenas said.

The three mothers have now teamed up to form a group called "Moms Against Fentanyl." Not only are they open to speaking with other parents whose children die from fentanyl overdoses, but they're hoping their message reaches others before it's too late.

They've organized rallies and are hoping to place ads on billboards throughout the Inland Empire as early as next year.

"We don't know exactly what we're doing," said Cavanas. "No one gives you a pamphlet on how to do all of this, but we're going to try."

Solorio acknowledges that there's a stigma among parents whose children die from fentanyl. Because these deaths are ruled overdoses, many often think these victims recklessly take too much fentanyl. But they say many children who take fentanyl often do so unknowingly, perhaps thinking it's something else.

"Parents need to be careful," said Solorio. "Don't trust nothing from nobody. Not a Tylenol, candy, gum, cigarettes, nothing. Everything's being laced (with fentanyl) right now."

Nylla Cardenas wishes she'd been more proactive in questioning her daughter about drug use. She hopes other parents learn from her daughter's tragic death.

"You have to be nosey," she said. "Invade their privacy, and go into their phone."