TAMPA, Fla. — When Tammy Plakstis thinks of her son, Dylan, she remembers his soul. The mother of six children describes her oldest as kind, funny and caring. 

“To know that my first born child is not here anymore and that I would think that he would’ve outlived me, it just makes me really sad,” Plakstis said. 

Dylan’s life was cut short a few days after his 29th birthday. He died from fentanyl poisoning. The autopsy shows the amount in his system was smaller than a grain of salt. 

“The last words that he told me before he left was ‘I love you mom,’” Plakstis recalled. “No matter what anything in the past that I thought maybe he had said that was hurtful to me, he told me he loved me. You know what, that was the best gift he could’ve left me.”

Plakstis said her son unknowingly bought cocaine laced with fentanyl. She explained Dylan was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his twenties and began experimenting with drugs. At the time of his death, he was clean, living in a group home and had a job.

After Dylan’s death, Plakstis felt alone. She started joining online grief groups and eventually found a way to cope. 

“Either I sit in the bed, be depressed and just say ‘I hate my life,’” Plakstis said. “Or, I try to advocate, give some respect to my son making his life have meaning.”

Over the past three years, Plakstis has devoted herself to raising awareness about the dangers of fentanyl and educating people about Narcan. 

“I just want to try to give back as best I can and just keep on creating awareness,” she said. “Because as much as I think that people know about fentanyl, a lot of people do and a lot of people don’t. Or, they don’t find out until it’s too late, so I don’t want it to be too late for somebody else.”

On the corner of Dale Mabry and Swann Avenue, Dylan’s picture is featured on a new billboard aimed at preventing fentanyl-related deaths. While Plakstis may not be able to bring her son back, she hopes to honor him and keep his story alive. 

“I know that you chose me to be your mom because I think I needed you more than you needed me,” Plakstis said. 

Plakstis will be part of a drug awareness event happening at Frenchy’s on the Dunedin Causeway on Saturday, March 30 at 1 p.m. Organizers will be providing free Narcan and demonstrating how to use it.