We lost Ethan to an accidental overdose of fentanyl.

He was celebrating his graduation at a casino when someone offered him something that happened to be laced fentanyl. Within minutes, Ethan collapsed with seizures and in cardiac arrest. For the next ten days, we sat by his bedside in the hospital watching him die.

Ethan had just graduated college and was on his way to law school. But first, he and his college buddies decided to celebrate their graduation at a local casino. It turned out to be a rite of passage gone horribly wrong. Ethan left his home on Monday afternoon, May 17th, 2021. At around 2 am the next morning, he was having a good run at the poker table when someone offered him something laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opiate that can be 50x stronger than heroin. 15 minutes later, Ethan collapsed in cardiac arrest. By the time EMS arrived and resuscitated him, he had already suffered severe brain damage.

In the 10 days that followed, Ethan’s responses to basic stimuli began to deteriorate and he was never able to breathe without a ventilator. He never regained any consciousness and was declared brain dead on May 27th, 2021. Ethan had decided he wanted to be an organ donor when he first received his driver’s license. Thanks to the sacrifice of his life, his heart, both kidneys, his liver and his pancreas were successfully transplanted to needed organ recipients. Ethan did his part to make sure he left the world a better place. Now it is our turn.

In memory of Ethan Bherwani

May you rest in peace, and may your spirit guide us toward a future free from the scourge of fentanyl.