Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Clark

Clark and Bubba




The last couple of days have been especially traumatic for my family. We came close to losing my little brother, Clark who is loved so dearly. He is the sweetest kid you'll ever meet. He's 14 and still tells me he loves me every time we speak. He gives hugs out like candy at a parade, respects his parents, gets along with everyone. Clark is just someone everyone really enjoys being around.

But unfortunately teenage boys sometimes do stupid things. He and his friend, Conner heard you could get a natural high if you ate Jimson weed seeds (moonflower). They found some planted in Conner's backyard and ate them. So, my parents got a call on Sunday from Conner's parents. They found Conner halucinating and he was rushed to Pediatric ICU, but no one could find Clark. My parents and friends looked everywhere. Someone found him hallucinating in a field hours later and called 911. He had been there 8 hours, was severely dehydrated, sunburned, and really scared. He didn't recognize my parents until yesterday, and he finally stopped thrashing, twitching, and hallucinating today.

And it's been a rough day for him. He's been in Pediatric ICU unable to eat for the last 48 hours and remembers a very scary experience, to say the least. It breaks my heart because he's such a happy kid and I just called to check on him and he's just sobbing. He said he was so scared. For eight hours, he walked around trying to find someone that had a cell phone so he could call his mom, but everyone he talked to would turn out to be just a tree, or disappear. It's the furthest thing from a pleasant experience. If he wasn't found at that time, he would have died.

Clark and my mom have agreed to talk about this experience, to have a Public Health Warning issued and to educate parents on discussing the danger with their own children. Kids have died from ingesting this flower before. It's not an illegal flower; in fact it grows wild in a lot of places, so I just hope that there's no long term damage and that other kids learn from this. They'll probably be on the news tonight. Here some newspaper clips and a video about them in the meantime...

Prayers would be appreciated. The doctors are saying Clark could have permanent liver damage.


http://www.news9.com/global/story.asp?s=10983561 There's a video clip to the right of this article.



http://newsok.com/2-in-hospital-after-eating-weed/article/3395190?custom_click=rss


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5 comments:

Jesse, Trista and Jaiden Wright said...

oh my gosh Kali... I'm so sorry! that is just so horrible! Dr. Phil has been doing so many shows the past two weeks about dangerous teen "trends".. and its just so scary to think of what our boys are going to grow up around and want to try! because like you said boys will be teenage boys! I'm so glad he is okay though! my gosh that just breaks my hormonal heart! wow!

Mom said...

We'll keep your brother and his friend on the prayer rolls. Your love for your family always shows. Good times and bad. I think its good your parents allowed it to be publicized so it can be a warning to other families. *hugz!*

dani said...

oh my gosh that's so sad! hopefully he will recover soon!

Luisa said...

Oh Kali, what a horrible experience for your brother, you and your family...What a scary thing to happen to someone you love! Glad to hear he's doing better in the ICU. We'll pray for his continued quick and safe recovery.

Becca Bel said...

Wow Kali I am sorry to hear about your brother. My brother is around that age. It is scary to think anything happening to him. I am glad he is doing better we will keep him in our prayers!