Wyandotte County
Died: September 7, 2022
She lost her son. Now she works to educate others For most of his childhood, Shawn Dewey II lived in a home with a single mother and three sisters. The girls would tease that he was a “mama’s boy.” But mom Shannon Earnshaw says he was spoiled just as much by the girls. “He’d always be, ‘Cook me something,’” Earnshaw said, laughing lightly at the memory. “He’d always con us all into cooking for him and that was his favorite thing. He’d (also) be like, ‘Do my laundry,’ and he did that to his sisters, too. So it wasn’t just me.” As an adult, Shawn studied Buddhism and believed in positive affirmations, sharing them with others or writing them down to empower himself. When his mother, Shannon Earnshaw, was feeling low, she said he was there to encourage her. When she was working to lose weight, he’d go to the gym with her. “He’d always be, ‘You can do it!’ and ‘You’re doing a good job!’” Earnshaw said. “He got me up, got my spirits up. He always pushed me forward, you know.” She knew in the days before he died that he had been struggling with insomnia. She would later learn that he got “some pills” from someone he thought he could trust. “I don’t know exactly what pill he was trying to get,” Earnshaw said. “But whatever he got, it was laced with fentanyl.” He died Sept. 7, 2022, nearly seven months after the fentanyl-related death of his cousin, Kaitlin Kennedy, 25. In the days after his death, Earnshaw found a black and white composition notebook where he wrote personal affirmations and thoughts he had. He also had jotted down a list of goals for his next six months. He wanted to gain weight and muscle and work on his credit. Now, she clings to the notebook — “These are his own words, they’re just so meaningful.” She says her son is still motivating her as she attends rallies and hands out Narcan, which can reverse the effects of a fentanyl overdose within minutes. She says she does anything she can to warn people about the drug that took her son from her. “I know he’d be telling me, ‘Mom, get up, there’s more you can do. There’s more you can do!’” Earnshaw said. “That’s all I can think of in my head. I can hear him.”
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