Parents’ warning hits home
This summer, teenager Jack Bradbury should have been adding a new chapter to his life on the sun-kissed island of Ibiza.
His mum and dad had already paid for his flight and accommodation and the 17-year-old had told them he was looking forward to this new beginning. He never made it. Instead of reminiscing about his new start on the Spanish isle, his family are today warning about the dangers of the drugs that took his life.
Dad Carl reveals the panicked phone call he received from his wife on finding Jack not breathing in his bed and of his desperate race to be at his son’s side.
He said: “I got home as quick as I could and was hoping and praying that there wouldn’t be an ambulance outside, but there was.
“The paramedics were carrying him out when I got there.” It’s a harrowing and heartbreaking story, but Jack’s parents have opened their hearts to not only pay tribute to their son, but to let the ordeal they faced act as a warning to all.
A cocktail of drugs were found in Jack’s body, but his dad has expressed particular concern about the presence of the liquid form of morphine, Oramorph.
This prescription drug, used as a painkiller, is, says Mr Bradbury, too easy to fall into the wrong hands.
The family has called for this drug to be reclassified in the hope that it makes it harder to obtain and more closely monitored by the authorities.
“We want people to understand the danger that they can do,” says Mr Bradbury.
Drugs are a concern for most families, but the Bradburys have lived all parents’ most feared nightmare.
Their warning must not be ignored.