Farmington Hills woman finds son dead from morphine overdose - Philadelphia News, Weather and Sports from WTXF FOX 29

Another mother has lost her child to drugs.  Christine Frederick found her son, 20-year-old Neil Lilly, dead in his bed Monday morning from a morphine overdose.

"I was not prepared.  I just got my life together, you know.  I graduated from high school.  I was in college, and then Neil started going downhill real fast," she said.
 
You might recognize Frederick as the Farmington Hills woman who had taken in Tucker Cipriano prior to the young man's alleged attack on his family.

Frederick, who grew up in dozens of foster care homes, prides herself on taking in wayward youth.  She herself gave up her own children several years ago.  She blames a brain tumor that sent her life spiraling out of control.  She had surgery and only recently started to get her own life together, only recently reconnected with her son, Neil, and got him into counseling.  There was so much pain in his young life and now he's gone.

"Let go of the past and let's get on with our future, you know, and I guess he did," she said.

Frederick herself is no stranger to drugs.  As recently as April she was arrested for growing marijuana, which her attorney says is for medical purposes related to her brain tumor.  She says she's a staunch opponent of drug use witnessing firsthand how it destroys lives.

"I ask myself what could I have done.  I should have known," she said.

Now she's trying to find the money for a funeral and hoping Neil's teenage sister is able to find out what happened to her brother so she, too, can mourn for a life gone too soon.

Donations for Neil's funeral can be made to the Neil Ryan Lilly Memorial Fund at Credit Union One.

Relatives of Neil are asked to please contact attorney Steven Schwartz at stevenschwartzatty@gmail.com.