NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas — There's a new billboard on 820 featuring dozens of deceased children, covered in ashes.
A few dozen parents whose children died of fentanyl saved up their money to pay to feature their faces on the LED screen.
Chantel Grossman's 21-year-old son, Grant Grossman, died in 2021. She told WFAA he was suicidal.
"He struggled deeply from depression, acute depression, anxiety," she said. "Drugs were a way to help him escape. But unfortunately…fentanyl stole him...It was laced in Xanax."
"…I tried to join my son…March 14th of this year," she cried. "This [billboard and activism] is keeping me alive to…. keep staying above ground."
Chantel invited WFAA to join her to spread Grant's ashes at the base of the billboard.
"To help others and reach out to others and just save one life," she cried. "Just one life."
April Burke's son, Preston, died Father's Day of 2022. He was only 24.
"My son struggled with back pain, and would say, 'If they’d prescribe me something stronger, I wouldn’t need to go to the streets for pills,'" Burke explained. "His so-called friend gave him the pill and told him it was a painkiller. And he took it and never woke up."
"People don’t think it’ll happen to their kids," she told WFAA. "But it does."
Anyone interested in learning more about fentanyl can visit the Texas Health and Human Services website.