By Misti Ingersoll
The night of February 19th, 2024, was just like any other night in my house. My 14-year-old daughter, Sadie, my 17-year-old son Rayce, and I ate dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, and then went to our rooms to watch TV, settling in for the night.
Rayce came in around 10 pm, sat at the end of my bed, chatted about something on Dateline, and said, “I love you, Momma. Goodnight.” That is where normal ended. Forty-five minutes later, Sadie ran to my room yelling, “Momma, something’s wrong with Rayce.”
I ran to his room to find him slumped over the end of his bed. I flipped him over and knew in my heart I would never hear his voice or see his beautiful blue eyes again. I did CPR until EMT arrived. They got his heart beating again, but Rayce never regained consciousness.
The next day, February 20th, 2024, at 7:19 pm, the heart of my firstborn and only son quit beating. The last good deed he did was to donate his organs.
After Rayce came to my room to tell me goodnight, he climbed out his window and met a drug dealer in front of our house who sold him one fake Xanax laced with Fentanyl. That one $20.00 pill poisoned and killed my baby. Rayce met the drug dealer through Snapchat.
My daughter and I now live our lives comparing before and after Rayce was killed.
We live in a home with an emptiness. No more laughter from Rayce picking at his little sister and best friend. No more heart-warming “I love you, Momma’s” from the precious boy who made me a mom.
We now spend our time doing what we can to stop Fentanyl from taking other brothers and sons.
We are joining other mothers like me in leading a Walk For Lives event on September 20th. I hope to provide lifesaving awareness, education, and resources to everyone in and around my home in Kilgore, Texas.
