ADKINS, Texas – A Bexar County mother hopes sharing the story about her son’s overdose death will help save someone’s life this holiday weekend.
Christina Villagrana’s 28-year-old son, Kyle Hinkel, was a recreational user of illegal drugs and died one year ago this weekend from a fentanyl overdose.
Villagrana hopes someone will listen to her warning and stray away from illegal street drugs.
“I know he did cocaine a few times. Like, he didn’t have a drug problem, you know what I mean? He did use drugs recreationally,” she said. “My son was an adult man, and he was responsible for his own life and what he did.”
Villagrana is joining forces with other mothers who’ve lost children to fentanyl overdoses to break the stigma and show compassion to those who made a deadly mistake.
Hinkel was an EMT and was well aware of the dangers of fentanyl-laced drugs, yet he still became a victim, his mother said.
“It’s just better to say no. And I know that used to be the campaign: ‘Say No to Drugs,’ and it didn’t really work. But to me, it’s different now because it’s not just addiction, it’s death, and it’s sudden death,” Villagrana said. “This is a different time. They poisoned the drug supply, and so you don’t know who’s going to die. It’s Russian roulette.”
Villagrana’s son’s photo will be placed on billboards around the city, and she will continue to speak at schools to children, warning them and hoping to save lives.
Find more related stories and resources on KSAT’s Fighting Fentanyl page