Across from me at 2 Alice’s Cafe on Broadway is a woman with a bright, cheery smile and warm green eyes. Her positive demeanor is an elaborate facade to the grief she holds within from losing her son to opioids last year.

Up to the worst day of her life Lauren Mandel fought for her family. Before her boys Max and Zane were even born, before Zane developed his fatal addiction.

“When I had my children gay marriage was illegal,” said Mandel. “I had to change my name and we had to do a second parent adoption. We had to scrape all we had together to get the paperwork and everything done just so we could be named parents of our own biological child.”

Mandel and her ex-wife fought for Zane before he was born to have biological children legally under the care of both parents. Simple things like signing a form at the doctor or making a decision at the hospital on their son’s behalf wasn’t allowed until they completed a second parent adoption.

Mandel knew she had to watch over her son, when she saw the same tendencies in her Zane as she had seen in her family members who struggled with addiction.

“He had an alcohol problem in college,” said Mandel. “He was doing his work and did fine in school, but he was drinking so much. Everytime I would see him, he was hungover. I could tell he was blacking out often. For me I knew it was a problem, but it wasn’t like he was a drunk.”

For Mandel helping her son was difficult, she knew something was off, but never witnessed her son using drugs, or drinking excessively. She had a feeling he was going down a difficult path but his use was never around the family. He was the outgoing, happy go lucky boy that she knew him to be.

“Many times there are red flags that you catch,” said Mandel. “He didn’t have those flags.”

After graduating Siena College in May of 2017, with a degree in social work, Zane found a job doing social work at Evercare a home health agency in Newburgh, where Mandel works as a nurse. He completed his week of training right before his untimely death.

On Monday, September 4, 2017, at 7 a.m. Mandel and her partner were in bed drinking coffee celebrating her partner’s birthday. Mandel’s mother came to the doorway frantically, Zane’s bedroom was empty and the bathroom was locked with no response.

A panic came over Mandel as she rushed to her son’s bathroom broke open the door and found his lifeless body face down on the bathroom floor.

With the help of her younger son Max they turned over Zane’s body, administered Narcan, and performed CPR. They would later find out he passed away at 2 a.m. from a fentanyl overdose.

“It was complete shock and disbelief,” said Mandel. “The effect it has had on our family, the only way I can describe it is, it was a tsunami. When I hear the tsunami survivors talking about the water that was all of a sudden there and you are swept off your feet, that was our life. That’s what my life has been since then. It’s just an out of order death. It’s not supposed to happen. You expect older people in your life to die you don’t expect your children to die. Not at 22.”

After Zane’s death Mandel felt compelled to speak out about the dangers of opioid abuse. She wanted to save another parent from experiencing the same trauma her family went through.

“Since the day he died I have just felt completely compelled to tell his story, to possibly save another kid and another parent,” said Mandel. “All those flags, he didn’t have those flags. I felt like gosh this is this hidden monster that’s out there for parents and they don’t know about it. It’s not because they are not good parents, it’s because there’s so much shame in injecting drugs, using drugs, and having a drug addiction. Zane didn’t tell anybody, no one knew, his best friend in the world didn’t know, his brother didn’t know, they had not idea that he crossed that line.”

Since Zane’s death Mandel started an organization called Keep It Moving, in Zane’s honor. The organization is a reflection of his love for the outdoors and life. Mandel and her family raise money for children and young adults to participate in physical activities. They also conduct fundraisers and donations in honor of Zane’s life.

“When you put so much energy into your children and then there I have this college degree hanging on the wall but everything goes to waste,” said Mandel. “Why did I waste my whole life supporting this child to become who he is going to become just to die. What is his life? And I felt like after I talked to his friends from school I realized the point of his life. Even though he was young he did touch a lot of people.”

Mandel keeps the memory of her son alive through her organization which also provides on the spot Narcan training in the community. To find out more about Keep it Moving you can email keepitmovingzane@gmail.com or call 728-2302.