Senate candidate Dave McCormick and his wife, Dina, recently joined parents who lost their children to fentanyl poisoning at the Far Northeast home of Denise and Michael Trask to listen to their stories and discuss the importance of confronting the drug epidemic. They were joined by former Ohio Sen. Rob Portman.
McCormick heard from six families and promised to focus on fentanyl poisoning if elected.
Denise and Michael Trask lost their daughter, Jacquelyn, 26, to a fatal overdose in 2016.
Ed Bisch lost his son, Eddie, an 18-year-old from Fishtown, to an Oxycontin overdose in 2001.
Greg Swan lost his son, Drew, 24, in 2013 of an opioid overdose. He’s a cofounder of Fentanyl Fathers, whose motto is, “Don’t try. Don’t die.”
Joseph and Ann Sardella of Delaware County lost their son, Joey, 24, in 2019. They hold a 1-mile walk each year at Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery to mark Aug. 31 as International Overdose Awareness Day.
Anne Fundner lost her son, Weston, to fentanyl poisoning at the age of 15 in 2022.
Bonnie Kane of Bensalem lost her son, Morgan Bazik, to fentanyl poisoning at 20 in 2017.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that nearly 75,000 Americans died of fentanyl poisoning in 2023.
“The numbers are so staggering,” McCormick said.
McCormick said dramatic and immediate bipartisan action is needed on the issue, describing it as a national crisis. He believes the United States should classify foreign drug cartels as terrorists so the military can take out their manufacturing operations.
Portman, who focused on the issue when he was in the Senate, said the most effective voices are the parents who’ve lost a child.
Denise Trask recalled her daughter’s awful struggles.
“I feel that God took her home,” she said.
Trask said she and her husband grew up in Kensington when it was a nice neighborhood. Now, it’s so overrun with drugs that the entire June graduating class from the Police Academy – a class that included their son, Mike – was assigned to Kensington.
Trask is now trying to help other families.
“My heart is so vested in awareness,” she said. “I hope this world gets fixed. It’s really broken.”
Bisch described fentanyl as “Oxycontin’s grandchild” and a “weapon of mass destruction.” He believes there needs to be a reduction in the supply and demand, along with the harm, with greater use of narcan, a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose.
Fundner, who spoke about the issue at the Republican National Convention, said America needs to stop illegal immigration at the southern border, adding that the U.S. should not allow another shred of lettuce to be imported from Mexico until the border is closed.
Fundner said she is on a “crusade” to help prevent other families from losing a child, in Weston’s memory.
“He’s saving lives,” she said.
Kane became a licensed counselor after the death of her son. She forgave her son’s friend who gave him the drug, calling him a “broken person.”
“I never thought this would hit me,” Kane said. “It can happen to anybody.” ••
For more information, visit FentanylFathers.org.
