Distraught parents injected naloxone, called 911 but it was too late to save son
VICTORIA Fuelled by a kind of superhuman hope, Elliot Eurchuk’s parents tried desperately to restart the heart of their 16-year-old son as he lay unresponsive on his bed on Friday morning.
Through tears and screams, Rachel Staples called 911 and injected naloxone. Elliot’s father, Brock Eurchuk, pumped on his son’s chest. Younger siblings Oliver, 14, and Isaac, 12, were directed to stay out of the room.
“It’s the human condition to hope,” Eurchuk said.
But hope and love couldn’t revive Elliot.
Staples found Elliot unresponsive about 7:30 a.m. Paramedics suggested he likely died hours earlier.
His parents believe Elliot accidentally overdosed while using street drugs to help sleep.
They blame their son’s illicit drug habit on highly addictive painkillers prescribed for a series of injuries and post-operative pain, and the medical system’s ability to override their objections and shut them out.
It’s the reason that, just hours after their son’s death, Eurchuk and Staples, with the help of police and school officials, decided to publicly explain how Elliot died.
In the midst of making funeral arrangements, they are calling on the province to amend the B.C. Infants Act that allowed their son, with the consent of his physician, to keep his medical records, treatment and tests from his parents.
Judy Darcy, B.C.’s minister of mental health and addictions, was to meet with the family on Wednesday to discuss their concerns. Island Health will conduct a review “to see what changes could be made,” Darcy said.
Elliot’s parents are focused on shaking young people out of their “it won’t happen to us” complacency.
Despite warnings Elliot heard from teachers, counsellors and his parents, after four major surgeries, a life-threatening infection and lengthy hospital stays, Elliot believed he knew more than them.
“He knew so much about chemistry and was so schooled in these drugs, he fooled himself that he could manage this,” Eurchuk said. “He thought he had his own back. ‘It’s not going to happen to me.’ And it happened.”
Piet Langstraat, superintendent of the Greater Victoria school district, said many young people see themselves as invulnerable. “That’s a real issue that we’re facing.”
Kids convince themselves they are buying pharmaceutical-grade pills because of the higher cost, or because they are pressed to look like something from Pfizer or Upjohn, or because their seller “friends” tell them so, Eurchuk said.
Sadly, none of it is news to Langstraat: “This is a very tragic incident for sure and it’s very public and highlighted in our community, but we deal with students with addictions issues and students who use drugs on a regular basis.”
Elliot’s drug problems began when he dislocated his shoulder in a wrestling class. It snapped back into place but pain persisted for almost a year, until tests revealed chipped bone and damaged cartilage.
When Elliot was finally scheduled for shoulder surgery, it was delayed because he was suckerpunched on the soccer field and broke his jaw. His mouth had to be wired shut. Once healed, a second operation was required to remove the oral hardware.
Elliot was prescribed opioids for pain, which set off alarm bells for Staples, a dentist.
But later she would become distracted, undergoing radical surgery, chemotherapy and radiation to fight an aggressive breast cancer.
Elliot’s third surgery, on his shoulder, was later deemed to be a failure.
By the time he had another shoulder reconstruction in October 2017, “he’s basically experienced every category of pharmaceutical and street drug,” his father said. His parents insisted doctors prescribe their son alternative pain medication rather than opioids, and they did.
At home recovering, Eurchuk iced his son’s shoulder morning and night, but he was still in intense pain.
“Where I am today, with my son dead, I look back and think he started self-medicating again,” he said.
In late January, an abrasion on the back of Elliot’s heel inflamed into a life-threatening blood infection that could have required a leg amputation.
Back from a day pass from Victoria General Hospital’s pediatric ward, Elliot was found at 1 a.m. on Feb. 10 in his hospital bed. His skin was blue and he was unresponsive.
Elliot was revived with naloxone, a drug used to reverse the effects of a drug overdose.
His parents rushed to hospital but were barred from receiving further information. When Eurchuk argued, he was flagged as interfering.
“No one is helping me to be as good a parent as I’m trying to be,” Eurchuk said. “They are empowering Elliot to interfere with my parenting.”
But by April, Eurchuk and Staples believed the family had turned a corner.
Elliot rebounded and his doctor gave him the OK to be active and lift weights again. He had been expelled from Oak Bay High School in October 2017 for reasons related to his drug use, but was studying hard at Mount Douglas Secondary with the help of a tutor and was excited about a plan to return to Oak Bay High.
“He radiated empowerment, happiness,” Eurchuk said. “The last two weeks were good and he was just getting on his feet.”
On Thursday night, as Eurchuk left their kitchen to go to bed, he encouraged his son to get a good rest.
Friday would include a morning appointment with a pediatric psychiatrist.
Elliot was an avid reader, an athlete, a chivalrous friend and protective person with the instincts of a “border collie,” said his parents.
At the same time, teachers had complained since he was young that, despite his intelligence, he was often disinterested in class, Eurchuk said. He was several years ahead in reading comprehension but underachieving, his parents were told.
Eurchuk wondered if something was holding his son back — if he was on the autism spectrum.
After their appointment, Friday would bring an afternoon of boating, hiking or maybe a trip to Vancouver.
“I believe he wanted to have a good sleep Thursday … and that he used opioids that he would have got on the street,” Eurchuk said. “He was fatally mistaken and fatally delusional that he could handle this habit.”
The hope of a new day was dashed with Staples’s screams.
“It’s like part of me is gone,” Eurchuk said.
“It’s an awful feeling of emptiness and regret and sadness.
“He never became the man he was going to be. He was such a nice person. He had his difficulties but … he had such promise, such potential.”