"Many Photos" - Mother releases photo of her holding son who died of drug overdose

A mother has shared heartbreaking photo of her holding her son for the final time after he died of a fatal drug overdose. 

Nora Sheehan, 56, lost her son Andrew Jugler, 29, after he took a deadly concoction of the xylazine and fentanyl after an eight-year battle with addiction.  

She said her son's addiction began after he started taking oxycontin painkiller in 2010, but then gradually progressed to heroin and fentanyl.

He died from a fatal overdose last October. 

In the wake of her loss, Sheehan shared a photo of her last moments with her son on social media to try and raise awareness about the devastating impact of the opioid crisis.

'Holding my dead son in my arms, this is the picture of addiction... This is what happens,' caption Sheehan, from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. 

Following his death in October, Ms Sheehan has released a photograph of herself beside her son for the final time to raise awareness about the opioid crisis crippling America

The administrative coordinator feared for her son when he joined a group living in the woods in Elkton, Maryland last summer at the height of his addiction.

She and Andrew's two sister, Candace Jugler, 38, and Haley Jugler, 30, tried to enroll him in a rehab program but failed. 

Sibling Andrew ,29, Candace, 38, and Haley Jugler, 30 (from left to right). They tried to check their brother into a detox centre but he quickly relapsed 

Andrew and his mother Nora Sheehan in happier times, before he was crippled by addiction

Andrew Jugler (left, in happier times and right, while battling addiction) died from a fatal dose of xylazine and fentanyl 

She said: 'When he moved to the woods I asked him if I could buy him a new tent or a new sleeping bag but he refused. I begged him to come home.

What is fentanyl and why is it so dangerous?

 

Fentanyl was originally developed in Belgium in the 1950s to aid cancer patients with their pain management. 

Given its extreme potency it has become popular amongst recreational drug users. 

Overdose deaths linked to synthetic opioids like fentanyl jumped from nearly 10,000 in 2015 to nearly 20,000 in 2016 - surpassing common opioid painkillers and heroin for the first time. 

And drug overdoses killed more than 72,000 people in the US in 2017 – a record driven by fentanyl. 

It is often added to heroin because it creates the same high as the drug, with the effects biologically identical. But it can be up to 50 times more potent than heroin, according to officials in the US. 

In America, fentanyl is classified as a schedule II drug - indicating it has a strong potential to be abused and can create psychological and physical dependence. 

'While I was trying to drive Andrew to a detox center in September he opened the door while my car was going 60 miles per hour as if to throw himself out.

'I stopped the car and started screaming. I asked him in that moment where he wanted to be buried.' 

The 29-year-old died on October 7 but it was two days before Nora could identify her son's body. 

Ms Sheehan said: 'I couldn't grieve until I saw him. Until then I had been holding out hope.

'They told me to prepare for the smell in the room, because his body had been outside for a while in the hot weather.

'That was the farthest thing from my mind. I wanted to hold him and hug him one last time.

'Andrew was incredibly kind and caring. He was a self-made mechanic and so loved by all of us, by his sisters and his niece and his stepdad.'

Instead of a traditional funeral service, Nora and her family held a memorial service in his name and invited Andrew's friends, who were battling homelessness and addiction.

She added: 'I hope that sharing this image will impact addicts but mainly I hope the rest of us stop walking around blindly.

'I never thought heroin and fentanyl were as prevalent in my community as they are. It's an epidemic.' 

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News Photo Mother releases photo of her holding son who died of drug overdose
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