by Judy L. Thomas and Laura Bauer
Fentanyl has killed more than 850 in KC area.
NINA STRADA, 22.
DIED: JUNE 23, 2021
‘She was that girl who would light up a room with her smile and her giggle’
On the surface, life was good for Nina Strada in mid-2021. The 22-year-old esthetician had just opened her own business and was making a living doing what she loved — helping people look fabulous.
But she had just gone through a tough breakup with her boyfriend, so her mother invited Nina to go along with her to Florida, where her 10-year-old sister was competing in a cheer competition. Michelle Termini thought it might do her older daughter good to get away.
While they were in Florida, Nina got sick. At first, Termini thought Nina had a stomach bug, but her condition worsened. And when Termini pressed her about what was going on, Nina started crying.
“And she ended up opening up and saying she had been doing pain pills for a year,” Termini said. “It was OxyContin. And she didn’t want to do them anymore. She didn’t like the way they made her feel. It was tearing her stomach up, and she wanted help.”
Termini and her husband struggled to find a rehab facility with an available bed close to home. They ended up choosing a place in Boston and sent Nina directly there from Florida.
After three weeks, Termini said, they told her Nina was ready to go home.
“They’re like, ‘She’s doing great. She’s followed the program. She’s got a little bit of depression. She’s gonna meet with the doctor and we’re gonna get her started on maybe an antidepressant a little bit and see how that works,’” Termini said.
Nina came home on June 6, 2021. When Termini picked her up at the airport, she asked Nina what kind of follow-up had been planned for her.
“She said they just said she would have to do some Zoom stuff,” Termini said. “I go, ‘So you don’t have to go in person to anything?’ She’s like, ‘No.’ And I was really confused. But she was over 18, so they wouldn’t deal much with me.”
Nina returned to her apartment on North Brighton Avenue, but Termini said they saw each other every day. On June 22, she and a couple of girlfriends went swimming at the Terminis’ pool. That night, Michelle talked to Nina and the two planned to get a pedicure the next afternoon.
“Next day comes, and I don’t hear from her,” Termini said. “And I start calling her. Keep calling, keep calling. I call her brother — ‘Have you heard from your sister?’ And my son’s like, ‘Mom, I saw her last night, she was really tired. She’s probably just sleeping.’”
Termini checked her phone app, and it showed Nina was at her apartment. She loaded up her three younger children and drove there, then got a maintenance worker to open the door. She told the children to stay outside.
“I went in and kind of looked around,” Termini said. “On her table, I could see that there was a drug. And her bedroom door was closed. I walked in the bedroom door, and I found her.
“So then my three kids hear me scream and I hear them running and screaming, so I run after them.” Everything after that, she said, was a blur.
The autopsy said Nina died of a fentanyl overdose. “The pill she had gotten was straight fentanyl,” Termini said. “She just took a little portion. She thought she was getting OxyContin.”
Termini said she decided to talk about what happened to Nina to keep her daughter’s memory alive and to help others. She said it was tough at first — even a little embarrassing.
“She aspirated — I mean, I found my child lifeless,” she said. “And that was hard for me to say. But I’m saying it now, because I really want them to know that whatever decision you make, there’s a consequence. And even though she did not know it was fentanyl, she chose to take a pain pill. And her consequence for that was fatal, and me and my kids and my husband living with this nightmare.
“But you have to step out of your comfort zone. At the end of the day, I just feel like if I can help someone else or save someone else’s life, then it’s worth it for me. It’s what Nina would want me to do.”
Termini said Nina always loved makeup artistry. When she was in high school, she would do makeup for girls for prom and homecoming. After high school, she attended the Independence College of Cosmetology, then worked in salons before starting her own business.
“She was beautiful,” Termini said. “She was that girl who would light up a room with her smile and her giggle. And she did not have a mean bone in her body. And as beautiful as she was on the outside is the same as she was on the inside.”
Termini started a nonprofit foundation, Nina’s Wings, shortly after her daughter’s death. She’s still coming up with a plan for the funds, but wants it to focus on addiction recovery services for those who have been through rehab.
“When Nina came home, she was basically on her own,” Termini said. “Nobody reached out to check on her or anything. And I called, and I kept calling there for help, like, ‘Where do we go? What do we do here?’ And I did not get a response from anyone.”
About a month later, she said, “I got a text message asking how she was doing. It was one of those automated things.”
Furious, Termini responded that Nina had died.
“And then it was crickets. I never heard from them again.”
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