Mom’s post goes viral after daughter nearly dies of alcohol poisoning

WFXT FOX 25

September 2, 2016

GARDNER, Mass. – A Gardner mother warning against the dangers of alcohol overdose after her 15-year-old daughter nearly died after binge drinking over the weekend.

Melissa Aho’s Facebook post about the terrifying incident has gone viral.

Fifteen-year-old Ryleigh Ackles told her mother she was hanging out with friends and was going to a sleepover.

“Everybody thinks this would never happen to my child. Ryleigh’s a good girl. She doesn’t go out to friends’ houses much,” she told FOX25.

Later, her mother received a Facebook message at 1 a.m. from a friend that had received a phone call. Someone on the phone had told her Ryleigh was passed out.

“Immediately my heart sank and I tried to call her phone repeatedly and of course, there was no answer. I questioned who, where, when, why’s and received no answer back,” Aho wrote on Facebook.

That was because the person who messaged Aho was picking up Ryleigh and another teenager who reached out for help, bringing them to Aho’s driveway.

“She was unconscious. She was bleeding from her eye and just completely unresponsive,” she said.

What happened next was a terrifying whirlwind of calling 911 and rushing to the hospital.

Aho said in the ambulance to the hospital, Ryleigh was foaming at the mouth and vomiting into her lungs. She was administered narcan four times to no effect. Then doctors tested her blood – the teenager had a blood alcohol level of .28 after drinking Ciroc vodka, as reported on FOX25 at 5.

The CDC says 6 people a day die from alcohol poisoning nationwide on average. Ryleigh is 92 pounds, according to her mother. At .30 BAC, which can be reached after six drinks, death is possible.

Ryleigh was put on a respirator, her mother unsure of what the future would hold.

“I waited 14 hours begging for my daughter’s life. And just going over and over in my head the flashback of my daughter’s life,” Aho told FOX25.

Then the teenager opened her eyes. It took several days for the alcohol to clear her system, but she is expected to make a full recovery.

Aho’s powerful Facebook post outlined how when her daughter became sick, they were scared and hesitated to call for help. Fortunately one girl, who didn’t know Ryleigh well, helped find a way to contact her mother, as reported on FOX25 at 5.

“She didn’t care about getting in trouble herself, she wanted to get her the help she so desperately needed, the other kids who left her I’m sure were scared and didn’t realize the severity of her condition at the time,” she wrote.

As reported on FOX25 at 6, symptoms of alcohol overdose include confusion; difficulty remaining conscious; vomiting; seizures; trouble with breathing; slow heart rate; clammy skin and dulled responses. Even when someone passes out or goes to sleep, they’re BAC can rise to fatal levels.