GREECE, N.Y. – In nearly every room of the Greece home where 22-year-old Jayden Dillenbeck grew up, there is a picture of a beautiful memory. And while the perfect pictures show she was living out her dream of being a model, her life was far from perfect.

“Jayden was, we call her our fireball, she was a fearless fireball, she just loved life and she was a very colorful person with a beautiful soul,” says Laurie Dillenbeck, Jayden’s mother.  

Jayden struggled with addiction and mental health issues.

“When she was about 17, she lost a good friend to suicide and that kind of started the whole spiral,” Laurie recalls.

The loss of another friend and then a devastating car accident a year only made things worse.  Her family eventually convinced Jayden to get help and she agreed to outpatient treatment. 

Then, the phone call came.

“To the best of our knowledge, she used cocaine laced with fentanyl,” Laurie says.  Jayden died on April 8th of 2022. Her organs helped to save the lives of 5 people, now her parents are hoping her story will help save the lives of countless others.

“When fentanyl is involved, the outcome is most likely tragic,” Laurie says, “I just feel that if we can help one family, our hope is to just help one family if that’s what it is.”

That’s why the Dillenbecks have been working with a group called Facing Fentanyl. Jayden is part of a new ad campaign called “The Faces of Fentanyl”. Her picture is one of a handful on the side of more than a dozen RTS buses in the area.   It has also been used on billboards here and across the country to try and warn people about how split second decisions can have life-long effects.

“We figured the more advertisements we can get out there and awareness, it may save someone’s life,” Laurie says.

Especially around the holidays–when many families will have an empty seat at the table. “She loved the holidays and we have a grandson, JT who is 6 and she just adored him and everything was just about JT for the holidays,” Laurie says. Now, JT just has a picture to remember the last Christmas with his aunt Jayden.

According to the Monroe County Medical Examiner, 512 people overdosed and died in 2023 and that number was largely driven by a rise in fatalities involving a combination of fentanyl and cocaine. 

Despite making up only 17% of the population, black people accounted for 40% of overdose deaths and nearly three times as many men compared to women died from overdoses.  Overdoses among people over the age of 60 are also on the rise with the median age of overdose victims now at 50 years old. 

If you or someone you know needs help you can reach the call the Suicide & Crisis is hotline at any time at 988. 

Click here for more information about local addiction resources.

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