A mum has told of her heartbreak after her son's dad AND godfather both died of fentanyl poisoning within months of each other. Gwen Dudley, 33, is raising son Luca, three, as a single mum following the death of partner, Paul Duffy, 32. Paul was a recovering addict and worked as a support worker for overdose victims when he started taking cocaine, on and off for two months. He took what he thought was cocaine but it was laced with fentanyl, and he died. Just six months later, his best friend Chris Phillips, 35, died after taking heroin laced with fentanyl. Like Paul, Chris was a recovering addict and was supporting someone to sobriety but Gwen said he felt "guilty" for not being there for Paul and relapsed. Despite trying to be a father figure to Paul's son - his own godson - he started doing heroin to cope with the stress, she said. Chris, a roof inspector died six months after his best pal Paul, on November 15, 2021. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than 150 people die each day in the US due to fentanyl poisoning. Traces of fentanyl can be found in drugs and you wouldn’t be able to see it, taste it, or smell it. Bereaved Gwen is speaking out to end the stigma against people who die from fentanyl poisoning. Outreach coordinator, Gwen, from Annapolis, Maryland, USA, said: "The stigma is such a big part of this. "People think that those overdosing from fentanyl are drug addicts and it is their fault and the reality is it is all different types of people. "The stigma is that addiction is some kind of moral failure; it is not. It is a mental health issue with people that are struggling or people that are addicted to pain medication. "There are pills that are pressed with it, this is affecting everyone and people who think it is drug addicts taking too much of a drug are wrong. "That is why I am so focused on spreading awareness on fentanyl knowing about it can save. "A lot of people don't know the dangers of fentanyl and how lethal it is and it is laced in the drugs they are taking. "I am just trying to keep my head above water. "It has been a year and a half but it feels like it happened yesterday. "Duffy was the love of my life - he was my partner and we had a lot of hopes and dreams for the future. "I grieve our past, I grieve our future, and I grieve for my son and how this will affect him over time. "I am doing everything in my power, to keep strong, keep going and have a happy life, and to build a happy life for my son and I but I live with immense pain every day." Gwen started dating Duffy in 2018, after they met in recovery and she fell pregnant with their son Luca, aged three, who was born on March 31, 2019. Duffy was working as a peer support specialist and would go into hospitals when there is an overdose victim to help them get the right treatment. Gwen said: "We were under a lot of stress and he wasn't taking care of his mental health and he ended up relapsing and overdosing on fentanyl." Duffy died on May 2, 2021, after overdosing in a park and was without oxygen for too long. Paramedics revived him and took him to hospital. It wasn't until the next morning the family were informed. Duffy was on observation for three days in ICU and the doctors were unsure if he had significant brain damage. Duffy was then declared brain dead, she said. "This is something where we have lost a lot of friends in the past and he was very aware of the dangers but he just didn't think it could happen to him," she said. Six months after Duffy died, Chris Phillips, Duffy's best friend and godfather of Luca passed away on November 15, 2021 aged 35. Gwen said that Chris and Duffy were like brothers and had a "very deep bond". When Duffy died, Chris struggled with the loss of his best friend because he felt "guilty" for not being there for Duffy. Chris was spending time with the person he was trying to support to ditch drugs when he used heroin, laced with fentanyl and he died. Gwen said: "He was trying to take on the role of that father figure for my son and he had started a new job and he was extremely overwhelmed. "He started with doing pills and eventually met someone who was using harder drugs which he had never done before. "Ultimately he overdosed, what he got was laced with fentanyl - it is still hard to believe." Since the deaths of Duffy and Chris, Gwen has used social media to spread the word and educate people about fentanyl poisoning. She is engaging with people on Tik Tok and Instagram who have either lost somebody to fentanyl or are currently struggling with their own sobriety. She said: "I spend a lot of time supporting those people emotionally, I also started a grief group - Falling Forward - to substance-related loss and that has been really helpful for me and helpful for the people in it. "We get new members every week because this crisis is so rampant it is only getting worse. "Ultimately, I hope to expand what I am doing in
