A distraught mother has told of her agony after trying to wake her teenage son from his lie-in – only to find him brain dead after a fatal overdose of illegally sold prescription drugs.
Tanya Hilling, 43, from Ipswich, has spoken out to warn other families after finding her son Kieron unconscious last Friday after a cocktail of Xanax and morphine.
‘I tried to wake him up, because he’d been asleep for hours,’ said Tanya. ‘I was nudging him and turned his head and he was bleeding from the mouth and nose and his lips were blue.
‘I just screamed and rang for the ambulance and they said I should try and get him on the floor but he was heavy. I managed to get him down, but the paramedics were running up the stairs.
‘When they got him to hospital they found a tiny heartbeat, but they told me if he did wake up there would be severe brain damage and that everything was failing and I should tell everyone who loved him to come to say goodbye.
‘It was awful, but all I can say is to any other family whose child gets involved with drugs – keep fighting and don’t give up, you’re not alone.’
Kieron’s family believe he acquired the drug from friends after falling in with the wrong crowd.
The youngest of four brothers, Kieron, who attended Copleston High School, Ipswich, was a gifted footballer, who had trials for Norwich City and Chelsea FC, but began to go off the rails aged around 13 or 14 and gradually lost interest in sport.
Kieron Hilling died after a fatal overdose of illegally-sold prescription painkillers
Keiron’s mother Tanya, 43,could not wake her son up after he overdosed on the drugs
Kieron was a gifted footballer and had trials for Norwich City and Chelsea FC growing up
His elder brother Connor Hickman, 23, a writer, said that things began to spiral out of control two or three months ago when ‘friends’ of Kieron began to use powerful prescriptions drugs such as Xanax and morphine, obtained illegally.
‘He just began to withdraw into himself and no matter who sat down and spoke to him, including all his family, it didn’t make much difference,’ said Connor.
‘His brothers, mum and dad sat down with him. I told him about a friend I’d lost through drugs, but sadly we just couldn’t get through to him.
‘The only people he seemed to feel right around were his friends who were the bad influence, so he followed them.
‘He always wanted to fit in and would bend to peer group pressure, and if you’re in with a bad crowd, that can go wrong so quickly.’
His brother said Keiron’s friends began to use powerful prescriptions drugs such as Xanax and morphine, obtained illegally
His family spoke to him about the dangers of the drugs but were unable to get through to him
Added Connor: ‘It’s so hard to get support in Ipswich, and I’m sure it’s the same in other parts of the country.
‘The whole family are devastated by this. We want to remember the cheeky little boy who was full of love and happiness, not the Kieron we lost to drugs. ‘
The family have set up a GoFundMe page on behalf of Kieron’s father Shaun, a 41-year-old signfitter, to help with funeral expenses ‘and give him the farewell he truly deserves’.
Connor added: ‘We just want to raise people’s awareness of these drugs and the damage that they can do.’
