Tennessee couple raising awareness 4 years after son’s overdose death

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A Knoxville family is raising awareness about the dangers of fentanyl, and giving back to the community while doing so.

Todd White Jr. died of an overdose on Feb. 28th, 2020. Now, four years later, his mother Deborah Smith wants others to understand the risk of overdoses.

“This is happening. One pill can kill you. That’s all it took for my son,” she said.

Smith said her son was clean from drugs for a year prior to his overdose. When he died, she and her husband, Leonard Collins, became some of the countless parents impacted by the fentanyl epidemic.

“All the kids are dying,” Collins said. “His generation is not existent anymore.”

Smith and Collins are doing what they can to warn others of the dangers, and giving back to the community at the same time. On Wednesday, the fourth anniversary of Todd’s death, they handed out snacks and supplies to those in need for the third year in a row.

“This is a foot traffic road. We have numerous people, homeless people walk up this road carrying cans going to the foundry just to survive,” Collins said.

The couple lives nearby a recycling facility where some people experiencing homelessness take cans and other items in exchange for money. Smith said her son had a habit of helping those in need.

“People look down on them, on the homeless and stuff. Todd didn’t. Todd would always help somebody. If he saw somebody walking down the street, 80-90 degrees out here, he’d come in, ‘Mom, I’m getting a bottle of water for so-and-so.’ He didn’t turn his back on anybody,” Smith said.

Most of all, she wants anyone else struggling with addiction to know that recovery is possible.

“My niece and my son Todd, they were addicts. And we didn’t know which one we were going to find first. She has recovered. She’s a manager of a big store chain. She’s doing awesome,” Smith said.

Though Todd is no longer here, his memory will live on forever through his family.

“That was my baby boy, I’ve got four boys. I’ve still got four boys because the angel is watching over me,” Smith said.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, and overdoses caused by the drug are still on the rise. According to the CDC, the number of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids in 2021 was nearly 23 times the number in 2013.