FULLERTON, Calif. — Every ornament placed on Andree Scanlon’s Christmas tree outside her home represents a life lost to fentanyl or other drugs, including her 32-year-old son, Stephan Chaplin.

He died nine months ago from fentanyl poisoning. 

Stephen’s mother said her son lit up any room he walked into and was a man of many hobbies, including being a musician that loved to play guitar and piano. He was a world traveler and a welder.

But aside from that, he was a loving brother of two siblings, a husband, a son, and a father of two babies.

Since Scanlon put up her Christmas tree, about 30 families have written a loved one’s name and some, a little note for them.

She hopes this breaks down the stigma surrounding addiction and mental health — two things, she said, Stephan struggled with.