Ryan’s family have issued a warning to others after his sudden death
Ryan Long(Image: SWNS)
The grief-stricken family of an 18-year-old British tourist who died after ‘taking drugs’ in Ibiza are warning teenagers about the dangers of ecstasy. Happy-go-lucky’ Ryan Long died on July 8 after feeling unwell at a club where he had been partying with friends.
His heartbroken parents believe he collapsed after taking ecstasy in UNVRS nightclub on the Spanish Island before spending five days in intensive care. They are now warning other young people going on their first holidays to be vigilant on what they are taking.
Ryan’s mum Angela said: “We’ve sat our boys down many a time and told them not to take drugs. I just can’t get my head round it. Not in a million years did I ever think he would do anything like this. He was a good kid.”
Ryan’s dad Adrian said his son had flown out in the afternoon on July 2 and he and four other friends had gone straight out. He said: “Their cases were in the room and he didn’t even unpack – they went straight out, excited to be on their first lads’ holiday on their own.
“They visited a few bars before ending up at the club and he didn’t seem quite right there. Towards the end of the night, he got in a cab to go back to the apartments with his friends.”
Ryan’s mum Angela explained that during the night of July 3: “Out of the taxi he collapsed and went unconscious. He went into a coma straight away and was foaming at the mouth. The last thing he said was his brother Aaron’s name.
“His friends put him in the recovery position and phoned an ambulance – his friend was doing the respirator while paramedics worked on him. They phoned me to say he was having a bad reaction. He had a nut allergy and I thought it was anaphylaxis or he’d been spiked.
“But once he’d got into the hospital, the doctor phoned us and said it wasn’t great. It was his heart and his kidneys. He was on dialysis and having transfusions. They asked us to get there as soon as we could.”
But Adrian and Angela couldn’t get a flight out to Ibiza until Saturday – despite phoning all the airlines to see if they had space. On Thursday, the doctors phoned again to say Ryan had taken a turn for the worse and for the family to prepare themselves.
He pulled through the night but his condition hadn’t improved. Adrian added: “We flew out on Saturday and went straight to the hospital. His liver was failing. They decided to fly him out on Sunday afternoon to a bigger hospital in Menorca for a liver transplant.
“But when we got there, they said he wouldn’t survive the operation. More scans had revealed he had septic shock and a brain haemorrhage.”
Ryan’s family were with him when he passed away on Tuesday, July 8. Adrian and Angela are now issued a heartbreaking warning to other young people venturing to the party city for a holiday.
Adrian said: “Youngsters think they’re invincible and that ‘it will never be me’. But we’re never going to forget this. You don’t know what’s there or what people are trying to give you. You can drum it into them many times but hopefully people will think twice.
“It is the height of the season now and everyone will be going out there. In that environment, they’re away home, the adrenaline is going, and they just don’t think.”
Angela added: “The devastation they leave behind, it is not worth it. His mates that tended to him are traumatised from what they’ve been through. Ibiza is so expensive for the youngsters, he told us it was 52 euros for a vodka and a coke and no kid on an apprenticeship can afford that.”
Ryan was undertaking an apprenticeship at the time of his death and was considering whether to take a year out to pursue his passion for scuba diving. Mum Angela said: “He was a natural in the water and was the youngest open water diver at the school where he learnt in Cyprus.”
Adrian added: “He was a natural at whatever he did. He swam for Essex when he was younger and had always been involved in football.”
Angela also spoke about her son’s ever growing confidence, and said: “He was a late beginner and was more interested in cars and gaming than girls for a while. As soon as he passed his driving test, he got his confidence and there was no stopping him.”
A GoFundMe to support Ryan’s family can be found here
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