Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DON’T LET YOUR CHILD END UP LIKE THIS
Ulster mum’s plea to parents as overdose leaves Kyle, 18, on life support
A MUM whose son was left on life support by drugs released an image of him lying in hospital as a stark warning to other parents.
Genna Ross, from Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, took the desperate step after fake “Diazepam” bought online drove Kyle Elliott, 18, to overdose on his own medication.
She told the Mirror: “I don’t want any other parent to see their child like that. It’s awful not knowing if he is ever going to wake up.”
A MUM whose teenage son spent New Year’s Eve on life support has hit out at the online dealers peddling black market drugs.
Kyle Elliott overdosed on his own medication a week after taking 30 illicit “diazepam” that left him spiralling out of control.
The 18-year-old, from Carrickfergus Co Antrim, bought 150 “fake blues” from a dealer in Belfast who had posted an ad on Facebook. The pills cost 50p each.
Heartbroken Genna Ross told the Mirror: “I don’t want any other parent to see their child like that. It’s awful seeing your child lying there and not knowing if he is ever going to wake up.”
Although he had been taking fake blues, the drugs Kyle actually overdosed were propranolol (640mg), venlafaxine (2100mg) and promethazine (350mg).
But his 38-year-old mum said the effect the illicit drugs had on his mental health is what pushed him over the edge.
She added: “It was all because of the black market drugs – that’s what tipped him over.
“He does have underlying issues but it was these tablets that made him do this. He wanted to die.
“He left me a note and everything.
“The fake tablets messed his head up and led him to this situation. They are very, very dangerous.
“The Saturday before Christmas Eve he was crying, he was paranoid and he thought people were trying to get into his personal security stuff. It just wasn’t Kyle, it was like another person inside him.”
Genna said she was visiting a neighbour when she got word her son was unwell at around midnight on December 30.
She revealed: “Whenever he got to the hospital he started acting strange and he stopped breathing.
“They had to put a machine in to make him breath. His heart didn’t stop, but he stopped breathing.
“Katie [her sister] said he was hallucinating and everything and holding a policeman’s hand for half an hour. She said it was the most heartbreaking thing she has ever seen.
“I can remember going into the room after getting a taxi from here to Antrim and nurses coming into the room.
“I said, ‘He’s not going to die is he?’ and they said, ‘Your son’s gravely ill’.
“He was in intensive care, intubated. He was sedated right through until Monday afternoon when they let him out.”
A letter from the hospital said Kyle was reviewed by RAID (Rapid, Assessment, Interface and Discharge) and would be followed up by the community mental health team.
Genna said: “He saw how close to death he was and he doesn’t want to be back there again. “I showed him the pictures of him in hospital and he broke his heart and said, ‘I will never do that to you again’.
“It stems from to that s**t he pumped into himself – it pushed him over the
edge.”