Kentucky mother hospitalized after picking up dollar bill
Renee Parsons and her husband Justin joined 'Fox & Friends First' to discuss the incident as officials warn against the potential danger of fentanyl-laced dollar bills.
A Kentucky mother who was hospitalized after picking up a dollar spoke out Thursday as officials warn against the dangers of fentanyl-laced bills amid a surge of overdose deaths.
Renee Parsons and her husband Justin joined "Fox & Friends First" to discuss what led up to the incident and why they believe some of their questions remain unanswered.
"I felt this feeling over my body that it really started at my shoulders and started going down," Renee told co-host Carley Shimkus. "And it really became not necessarily hard to breathe because I was gasping for air, but hard to breathe because it was almost taking over my body, as in relaxing me so much I didn't necessarily care to breathe."
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The pair were traveling through Nashville with their two children at the time of the incident. Renee found a dollar bill inside a McDonald's, picked it up, and brought it to the car with her.
It was only a matter of minutes before she says her body went numb.
"She just kind of laid back on the seat and her head was kind of going back and forth with the turns of the vehicle," Justin recalled. "It was very scary, to say the least."
Despite the couple's suspicions, Nashville police said the bill was not laced with fentanyl, shortly before destroying the money.
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Renee also said the doctors told her they are unable to test for synthetic opioids in order to confirm or rule out her suspicions about the potentially-laced bill.
"My hospital records also show that I was not tested for fentanyl," Renee said. "They did a six or ten-panel drug screen which came back negative."
The incident comes after a Tennessee sheriff's office issued a warning, urging people to refrain from picking up money on the ground. Officials found two bills, that tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl, at local gas stations.
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