Almost every evening, Victoria Ketter and her family gather in the only place where they can still be with their son.
It’s been almost two months since he got the call that his oldest, Johnathan Helmke, was found dead after taking what he thought was Percocet.
“It’s a day that I live every day. I live it every day in my head, in my dreams. It’s kind of on repeat,” Ketter said.
In the next few days, she learned that the pill Johnathan took was actually laced with fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that has become the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.
According to the DEA, it is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine.
And as in the case of Johnathan, often disguised as something else.
“Johnathan wasn’t a drug addict. It wasn’t like he was a heroin addict and he got a bad batch that had fentanyl in it. Johnathan took a pill and within minutes it took his life, and he didn’t have no idea what he had. he was consuming,” he said.
Denton police recently arrested Bryson Towers and Joshua Adams and charged them both with a felony for allegedly supplying the fentanyl that killed Johnathan.
Still, Ketter cares about others.
“I don’t want to see another parent suffer like we did,” Ketter said.
In the weeks since her son’s death, Ketter has channeled her grief into a mission.
On August 21st, it will host the first annual Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Event in memory of Johnathan at 1:00 pm in Pavilion Three of the Northern Lakes Park.
The event will include fun for kids, including bounce houses, snow cones and Spider-Man, and education for teens and adults, including a chance to talk to a narcotics officer and hear from other moms who have buried their children
“We have banners that go 40 to 50 feet long with all the babies we’ve lost from this,” she said.
This includes her Johnathan, whose memory she is determined to keep alive.
“Even if a life is saved, I’ve done my job. I’ve done something,” Ketter said.
