The first and only time Ken Davies overdosed on fentanyl he snorted two lines of cocaine. Six months after the incident, he is still suffering.
Davies unknowingly bought cocaine laced with fentanyl on New Year’s Eve.
“The last thing I remember I was standing at my kitchen table in the morning, and then everything went black,” recalled Davies.
“I woke up on the floor and it was dark out, my cellphone was dead, and I couldn’t move anything from the waist down.”
Davies was on the floor for 40 hours – 30 unconscious and 10 yelling for help. His ex-wife eventually came to his home, found him, and called 911.
“Nothing I’ve ever experienced can amount to the fear I felt then. I was laying on the floor thinking I was going to die and there’s nothing I could do about it.”
Once in the ambulance, Davies began to vomit violently.
For the first month after the overdose, Davies was bedridden in the hospital and couldn’t do anything.
“It was almost like losing him,” said Brenda Joynson, Ken’s mother. “We didn’t know if he was going to live or die. It’s amazing that he survived.”
Davies’ lungs filled with more than four litres of blood and mucus, which had to be surgically removed. He also had to undergo several dialysis treatments.
After two months, Davies was released from the hospital, but still suffers from the incident.
“I still have no feeling from my knee down in one of my legs. I see a specialist in eight months and if he can’t fix it the only other option is to remove that part of my leg.”
Because he can’t work due to his injuries, Davies lost his house and is living with his mother.
“This screwed my whole life up. I went from making $6,000 to $8, 000 a month, to losing everything.”
“But I’m lucky to survive. I’ve put my family through hell and I’m happy I get a second chance at life.”
Joynson said she believes it’s important for young people to be aware of the long-lasting traumatic affects that using drugs can have on your body.
“Why even try it?” said Joynson.
“It’s not just a quick fix or a high anymore, it can kill you. And if even if it doesn’t, look what you can be left with – the toll that it has taken on Kenny is unbelievable.”
“You cannot trust any drugs now-a-days,” said Davies.
He explained that it is almost impossible to know if something’s laced with fentanyl because there is no taste or smell.
“You don’t know it’s in you until it hits you,” said Davies.
