Riley Lubas took too much without realising
13:16, 21 Sep 2026Updated 14:24, 21 Sep 2026
Riley on a fundraising walk in the Gower for King’s College Hospital Charity, September 12, 2026(Image: Chris Lubas/SWNS)
A student went into organ failure and nearly died after accidentally overdosing on paracetamol. Riley Lubas, 20, came down with a bad cold in March 2025 while in his first year at the University of Bath.
Without realising it, Riley accidentally took two over-the-counter medicines containing paracetamol. After a couple of days, Riley started experiencing stomach pains and couldn’t keep food down, so he called 111, who directed him to A&E.
Riley’s liver started failing and he was transferred to King’s College Hospital in London. Just hours after arriving at the ICU in King’s, Riley went into multiple organ failure and was placed on life support.
After a few days of being at the top of the UK’s liver transplant list, the organ miraculously started to improve by itself. In a matter of two weeks, Riley was off life support and was relearning to walk and talk.
Riley, a bartender from Newport, said: “It was mad how quickly it all escalated. Because I was already sick, when my stomach hurt I just assumed I’d caught a stomach bug, so I didn’t notice the pain in my liver specifically. I’m just so grateful that I was able to come out the other end alright.”
Riley was studying creative media at the University of Bath when he got hit with a springtime cold.
Riley Lubas with his mum Kate at King’s College Hospital in London(Image: Chris Lubas/SWNS)
Riley said: “It felt pretty non-eventful. People get freshers’ flu or colds all the time in first year, so I got two medicines.
“I didn’t realise at the time that both had paracetamol in them. It wasn’t until I felt my stomach hurting and couldn’t keep food down that my flatmates suggested I call 111.”
The staff at Royal United Hospital’s emergency room took Riley in for tests, where they discovered his liver was in trouble. His parents, Chris and Kate Lubas, 40 and 39, arrived at the hospital after Riley called them and the couple raced up from Newport.
Chris, a company director, told Talk to the Press: “Riley was admitted to a ward with something wrong with his liver – I think the doctors were concerned it was hepatitis. It got to the end of the day, so we went home after visiting hours closed.
“Hours later, at 1.30 in the morning, I got a call from the ICU staff at the hospital saying we had to get there immediately. All they could say at the time was they were doing everything they could.”
When Chris and Kate arrived at the hospital, doctors informed them that Riley’s liver was heading towards failure. They watched as their son gradually deteriorated over the next few hours until he was delirious and hallucinating.
Chris said: “At that point, they decided to transfer him to King’s College Hospital, where they have a specialised ICU. By 6pm that night he was sedated and on life support and dialysis in multiple organ failure.
“The staff there were able to finally tell us how bad it had gotten. His liver was failing, which led to a spike in his heart rate from the stress on his body.
“He also had about 24 to 48 hours’ worth of fluids in his brain, so they were concerned about that. Then his lungs and kidneys stopped working too. We were so distressed and had no idea how this could have happened so quickly.”
Riley Lubas with parents Chris and Kate(Image: Chris Lubas/SWNS)
The staff at King’s College Hospital asked about Riley’s paracetamol intake and they were able to find the two medications and work out what had happened.
Chris said: “It didn’t necessarily help with a solution, but it was good to know the cause at last.”
Riley was placed at the top of the liver transplant list in the UK, but issues with his heart meant he was prohibited from the surgery for two days. In that time, doctors noticed improvements in his liver health.
Chris said: “The medical staff had said that with how bad his liver was, it was as good as irreversible, which is why he was on the transplant list to begin with. But when that was delayed, they spotted some improvement in the liver. We watched Riley’s situation closely for a couple of days, and he continued to improve, until he was taken off dialysis and life support just a week later.”
After being on life support, Riley had to relearn how to walk and talk. He spent a total of six weeks at King’s College Hospital before moving back to an ICU in Newport.
Riley Lubas(Image: Chris Lubas/SWNS)
Chris said: “We were amazed to see his improvement. He’d had a tracheostomy, so he needed to learn how to speak again and, because of how many organs shut down, had to relearn walking too.
“But just seeing him up and alive again was unbelievable. There’s no exact answer for why it happened this way, but the doctors did think that his health and age would have supported the liver’s recovery.”
A year and a half on from the start of Riley’s recovery, he is back to normal, working as a pub bartender. Chris and Kate did a 50km hike across the Gower Peninsula on Saturday, September 12, to raise money for King’s College ICU and raise awareness for paracetamol overdose.
Chris said: “The help of the staff meant so much to us during this time. Plus, we really want to raise awareness around the paracetamol issue, especially for young people. We’ve raised the concern with the Pharmaceutical Journal, which wants to make warnings more apparent on packaging.”