A 15-year-old schoolgirl was hospitalised 'foaming at the mouth' after smoking allegedly spiked cannabis she had bought outside Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet. Sophy Smolnicka, a year 11 student, collapsed and suffered a seizure while smoking the class B drug with friends in a forest in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.
Collapse and emergency response
One minute into smoking the cannabis, Sophy says she collapsed to the floor and began having a seizure. A friend called 999 while Sophy was 'foaming at the mouth' and 'throwing up blood'. She was taken by ambulance to the Countess of Chester Hospital in Cheshire.
Her mother, Ivana Kodeschova, rushed to the hospital after receiving a call and found Sophy hooked up to heart monitors and undergoing tests. The 50-year-old shop worker said she was left crying when she first saw her daughter attached to the monitors.
Mother's warning to parents
Ivana is urging parents to look out for 'warning signs' in their children, saying the outcome could have been different if medical help had not arrived in time. She said: "[When I got the call] I went straight to the hospital. I was starting to panic and cry. When I got to the hospital, I saw my daughter being monitored for her heart. She was very cold and she was given five blankets as her temperature had dropped. There are no perfect parents who can say, 'This doesn't concern us. This will never happen to us'. And if something like this does happen, it does not mean that you have failed as a parent."
Sophy's account and resolve
Sophy says she was told it was just cannabis but believes she was 'spiked' due to the severity of her reaction. She said: "I just presumed it was just weed. One minute into smoking it I started walking into bushes and then collapsed on the floor. I was panicking and my heart was beating really fast and I was sweating. I've never had a seizure before so it was quite scary to experience for the first time. When I collapsed on the floor, I remember shaking and I couldn't speak. I had foam coming out of my mouth as I could feel it dripping down on me. I know if I had shut my eyes, I would have been dead. I was throwing up bits of blood. I was so panicked about staying alive."
Ivana and Sophy are speaking out to stop other young people going through the same ordeal. Sophy says she will never smoke cannabis again and has shared her story on social media. She said: "This has 100 per cent put me off smoking weed again. I've shared the post I made online with all my mates and I've put it all over my social media. I know what I've done and that's my own fault and I'm not asking for any sympathy but, in time, I don't want this happening to anyone else. The ambulance said that if they didn't get there in the next 10 minutes, I would have been dead in the middle of the forest."
