Fentanyl claimed the life of a Stanislaus County girl. Her sister keeps her memory alive

Isabella Marie Vivo would light up every room, was funny and energetic, family members said. She was a cheerleader for youth sports, played volleyball in middle school and sang the national anthem before Waterford High basketball games.

But tragedy struck Aug. 24, 2021, when the 14-year-old gathered with friends and they experimented with drugs. She became one of the 5,722 Californians who died that year from fentanyl poisoning.

Now, her family works to preserve the memory and identity of “Bella,” whose death they say was not a stereotypical drug overdose case.

“It’s still a very fresh wound,” said her sister Sofia Vivo, who shares Bella’s story at fentanyl awareness events in Stanislaus County. “I feel like she is talking through me. It always helps me see her in a positive light.”

A synthetic opioid, the fentanyl found in counterfeit pills and increasingly in other street drugs is 50 times more potent than heroin. It is so toxic that police officers wear gloves and follow careful safety procedures in confiscating the illegal drug.

According to the Public Health Institute, overdoses and hospitalizations due to opioid drugs are growing fast among teenagers and young adults in the United States. The overdoses and hospitalizations almost quadrupled between 2010 and 2021, with fentanyl accounting for 80% of overdose deaths among young people in 2021.

The family believes Bella thought she was taking a Xanax on the night she died. She didn’t know the pill was almost 100% fentanyl.

“My sister did not know what she was taking,” Sofia said. “At the end of the day, she was still a kid. Unfortunately, these kids don’t know any better.”

Sofia, 19, and a family friend, Denise Gutierrez, created the Better for Bella website and a grassroots campaign to reach as many people as possible about the severe dangers of fentanyl.

Mike Vivo, Bella’s father, and Sofia speak at town hall meetings on fentanyl held by the Stanislaus County Opioid Safety Coalition.

“Losing a child is the most pain someone can go through,” Mike said in an interview. “It feels like someone is stepping on your chest. The pain is suffocating. I feel guilty to be happy at times.”

Mike Vivo, who has coached youth and high school sports, is now coaching county residents about fentanyl, urging parents to communicate the extreme danger to their kids. “It can happen to anyone,” he said. “Your life could change in a blink of an eye.”

A visit to friend’s house

It happened to Bella when she was two weeks into her freshman year at Waterford High. She went to a friend’s house to stay overnight.

Early the next morning, around 3 a.m., the friend’s mother knocked on the door of the Vivo home. The woman said something was wrong with Bella.

Family members rushed to the home and found the police, an ambulance and paramedics there. Emergency responders made attempts to revive the girl.

Mike and his wife, Judith, went into the room to spend the last moments with Bella, but she had died.

Other family members were at the scene, praying and waiting it out.

Family members said there are gaps in information about what happened that night. For example: How long did it take from Bella showing symptoms of overdose to someone calling for an ambulance?

An autopsy determined that Bella died from fentanyl poisoning. A law enforcement investigation of her death remains open, the family said.

Mike said his family members are believers. They are more inclined to pray for those who were with Bella that night than condemn them, he said.

Empty chair on campus

The Better for Bella campaign has done an “empty chair” exercise at Waterford High School in memory of Bella. The empty chair and signs show where a student killed by fentanyl should be sitting.

After Bella’s death, the school’s Friday Night Live group gave the first fentanyl presentation at the FNL statewide conference, where the topics usually are underage drinking and tobacco prevention.

Waterford students are asked to take a pledge to be Better for Bella by taking medications only when directed by a healthcare provider and a pharmacy.

The school district decided to address fentanyl head on.

“It affected a great deal of students because the (Vivo) family was known in the community,” said Mary Horning, adviser for the Friday Night Live club. “Our district decided we were going to address it and raise awareness so hopefully it does not happen again. It is hard to tell if the message gets through.”

Tony Hoffman, a former BMX rider, was brought in to speak to students about the opioid crisis. A cautionary fentanyl film, “Dead on Arrival,” was shown to English classes.

Waterford High has Narcan in classrooms and staff training on using the medication to reverse an overdose, Horning said.

State data for 2021 showed fewer than six opioid overdose deaths among teenagers in the county, and officials hope to keep the numbers down.

Other school districts have taken steps to protect their students against the drug that makes youth experimentation with stimulants akin to Russian roulette. Only 2 milligrams of fentanyl is lethal for a young person.

Since early October, Modesto City Schools has kept multiple doses of naloxone at every school site, said spokeswoman Linda Mumma Solorio. Naloxone is the overdose-reversing ingredient in Narcan, which is a brand name.

Employees are trained to administer naloxone, including administrators and health staff, using information provided by state health agencies. Larger campuses have naloxone in multiple locations to facilitate a faster response by staff, Solorio said.

The Modesto district also works with the Stanislaus County Opioid Safety Coalition to spread awareness about prescription opioid misuse and treatment approaches to the public health crisis.

TUSD promotes awareness

Turlock Unified School District has worked with county behavioral health officials to bring fentanyl awareness to students and families, spokeswoman Marie Russell said. Events have included a town hall meeting last fall and a virtual presentation for seventh- through 12th-graders on the dangers of candylike rainbow fentanyl before Halloween.

The Better for Bella presentation was given to physical education classes at Turlock High School.

“All of our schools have Narcan on site,” Russell said by email. “I had Bella’s sister present to a college class I taught at (Stanislaus State University) during winter term — she is an amazing young lady.”

Dr. Reb Close, who’s with the CA Bridge Program that’s trying to disrupt the addiction treatment landscape, said semirural areas like Stanislaus County tend to have fewer resources for reaching disadvantaged communities and face challenges in battling the fentanyl crisis.

Close, an emergency physician at a hospital in the Monterey Peninsula, said a Narcan outreach in her area was not attended well, mainly because the targeted people were working in agriculture and couldn’t take time off.

She said previous generations had a clearer idea of what they were getting into when they tried recreational drugs. They didn’t have to worry about a pill killing them.

Close, who speaks at schools, said the fear of rainbow fentanyl on Halloween makes her think middle school students are getting the message. However, high schoolers at a typical assembly range from college-bound students who won’t touch the pills to kids who are high or dealing drugs, she said.

Sofia Vivo said sixth- through eighth-graders seem more receptive to the message about fentanyl.

She said she thinks her youthful appearance helps her talk with young people who don’t watch the news or listen to worried parents. She believes students can put themselves in Bella’s shoes when they hear her story.

“Kids can’t be curious about drugs, kids can’t be experimenting any more,” Sofia said. “You can’t take that chance.”

Waterford High will ask students to take the pledge again for National Fentanyl Awareness Day on Tuesday in the spirit of driving home the point once more. People on campus wear purple for overdose prevention.

Sofia and her father suggest the COVID-19 pandemic overshadowed the emergence of fentanyl. Mike said he knew little about the drug before Bella’s death and can’t fathom the major dealers who distribute the poison.

“I never heard of a business where they want to kill their customers,” Mike said. “Our family believes that everything happens for a reason and everybody has a purpose.”