‘I don’t want him to be a statistic’: Plea over drug death of Rian, 26
FAMILY WARNING OF DANGERS OF KETAMINE
THE family of an “amazing” 26-year-old man who died after taking ketamine have warned of the potentially fatal consequences of the drug.
Rian Rogers, from Warwickshire, had an extremely high dose of the anaesthetic in his blood when he was found dead in the shower at his flat in Beeston on Monday, April 24 last year.
He had moved to Nottinghamshire three weeks previously, having secured a well-paid job as a coder at credit company Experian.
His death, ruled accidental by a coroner, came as he was on the waiting list for surgery to help ease the pain caused by his addiction all while hoping to kick his tragic habit once and for all.
Grieving mum Clare said: “He was just an amazing person. I don’t want him to be a statistic. I want to make other people aware of how dangerous this stuff is. He didn’t deserve this.”
Mr Rogers began taking the drug recreationally in his teens and had fallen into a habit which began to damage his body. He first saw a doctor in September 2020 about pain when urinating and was later diagnosed with ketamine cystitis, a relatively unknown side effect of the drug.
His bladder had shrunk dramatically, meaning he always needed the toilet. He avoided alcohol but his constant pain meant he had trouble sleeping.
He resorted to further use of ketamine to mitigate the pain and fell into a vicious cycle of addiction. But he had made attempts to get better - including moving in with his father, gaining five stone and speaking to therapists.
He had also been to rehab less than a year before his death and was “excited” about his progress. However, he continued to take prescription opioid tramadol and struggled with the pain he was in.
In the months before he died, he had been referred for bladder augmentation surgery and was on a waiting list.
He told the GP his quality of life was “very bad” and that he had relapsed to snorting two to three grams of ketamine a week.
There was no evidence he had meant to harm himself, nor any suspicious circumstances around the events of April 21, the inquest found.
Consultant toxicologist Dr Steven Mosley said his death was quite possibly because he had just “been unlucky”.
He told the inquest, at Nottingham Coroner’s Court, it was likely Mr Rogers had not deliberately overdosed on the class B substance but had unwittingly bought or obtained a powdered version containing an extremely high concentration.
On the day of his fatal collapse, Mr Rogers had shopped at Lidl and bought a new phone off Facebook marketplace, before chatting happily in the kitchen over dinner with some of the people with whom he shared an 11-bedroom HMO in Queens Road, Beeston.
He had made plans with one flatmate to have a “games night” the evening afterwards, a Saturday.
But that evening he had gone back to his bedroom and snorted ketamine. Afterwards, he got in the shower, where he collapsed, falling unconscious into a “deep sleep” before his breathing slowed, his blood pressure dropped and oxygen stopped getting to his brain. Mr Rogers would not have known anything about his death and effectively died in his sleep, pathologist Ian Ellis said. A flatmate called the police after noticing a foul smell coming from his corridor and discovering Mr Rogers’ body in a seated position in the en-suite shower cubicle, with the hot water still running, on the evening of Monday, April 21 - three days after he had died.
The bedroom was described as “extremely humid”, with water droplets coming from the walls and ceiling.
At the end of the inquest, dad Michael Cavanagh shared his anger about the lack of availability of therapists for his son, who had had video interviews with a variety of private practitioners and even “chosen his favourite”. But despite his family’s willingness to pay for treatment, no therapist was able to take him on.
His grandad, Michael Rogers, also paid tribute, saying: “I think what hurts the most is that he was a good lad. He wasn’t aggressive and he was brilliant with his computers. He got every job he went for. It’s a complete waste.”
You can sign Clare Rogers’ petition to reclassify ketamine at www. change.org and also follow her Facebook page, Ketamine Awareness.
Rian had been to rehab less than a year before his death and was “excited” about his progress.