In 2020, Charlie Ternan was a 22-year-old getting ready to graduate from Santa Clara University (SCU). But three weeks before his graduation, he tragically died after taking a pill that he thought was Percocet. It turned out to be fentanyl. On Oct. 16, nearly five years after Charlie’s death, his parents, Ed and Mary, returned to the SCU as heads of the nonprofit Song for Charlie. Ed took the stage to share Charlie’s story and warn other young people how one mistake could turn into tragedy.
“Today, the drug landscape is now like a minefield, where your first or second step out there might be your last,” said Ed, who is an SCU graduate himself.
For the last five years, he and Mary have spent time educating themselves on this new drug landscape, understanding exactly what their youngest son, Charlie, faced…