Holly Alsobrooks lost her son Cody to a one-time use of a fentanyl pill in August 2020
Lauren Monica | Anson Record
ANSON COUNTY — Founder of Fentanyl Kills You, Holly Alsobrooks spoke at Tuesday night’s Community Awareness for Addiction and Recovery Meeting, sharing the very personal story of how she lost her son, Cody James Bryant, to a one-time dose of fentanyl.
Alsobrooks began by saying, “I don’t know any of you, but I know you are here for a reason. I know it is hard and that it would be easy to give up. I am proud of you for being here tonight.”
She went on to describe her son, a boy she watched grow from birth into a young man that would be the envy of any mother. At the time of his passing, Alsobrook’s son was working a job he loved as Head Groundskeeper for the Hickory Crawdads Minor League Baseball team.
The wound still fresh, Alsobrooks said, “My son Cody passed away in August 2020 and he did not have any issues that I was aware of. He had a lot of things going for him and he really loved what he did.”
Unbeknownst to Alsobrooks, her son did use cocaine recreationally on the weekends, combined with a couple of beers. A friend and roommate of her son’s was using 80 fentanyl pills a day.
“Some people look at me and say, “That’s not possible.” I can assure you it is. He got hooked and had to keep taking more and more so he would not get sick. I knew my son was drinking, but we had talked about it, and I figured he’s twenty-five; he’d grow out of it. That is all I knew.”
Alsobrooks went on to describe how her son was given one of his roommate’s fentanyl pills. Her son had been helping with the rent and his friend felt like he owed him a favor.
“I hate when people say, ‘Friends don’t give friends drugs,’ because yes, they do. I know in his friend’s mind he took 80 pills a day; he would just give Cody half a pill. That was all, just half a pill.”
At first, everything was fine with Cody, and he said he enjoyed the effects of the fentanyl, so his roommate reluctantly gave him another half of a pill.
Her son was still fine, even taking his dog outside for a walk in the backyard.
Collapsing in the yard, Cody was later found by his roommates, who decided to take Cody inside to “sleep off” the effects.
Alsobrooks says, “This is the number one thing I tell people not to do. A lot of what I do is education. Never put your friend in bed to sleep it off. You need to keep them alert, awake, and check on them often.”
Not long after, Cody’s roommates checked on him again, this time seeing that his lips had turned blue, they decided to call for an ambulance.
Her son declared brain dead by doctors, Alsobrooks made the difficult decision to unhook the machines and let her baby go.
At 3:30 on a Monday, with only she and her ex-husband in the room, Alsobrooks remembers, “I laid my head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat for the last time.”
Now, Alsobrooks has made it her mission to educate and support addiction sufferers.
Encouragingly, Alsobrook’s son’s roommate and she have developed a mother-son type bond, and she has stood by him as he has worked towards achieving his own recovery.
Alsobrooks says, “If you take nothing else away, please remember all it took was one time, one pill, to end my son’s life.”
In honor of her son’s memory and driven by a desire that no parent should endure what she has, Alsobrooks travels from Charlotte to South Carolina bringing awareness and providing education for individuals and their families when dealing with an overdose. Alsobrooks can be contacted through her non-profit FentanylKillsU.org.
Community Awareness and Recovery meetings are held in the Community Room at Atrium Anson at 7 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Meetings are hosted by community mentor William “Boogie” Short.
