Prom Night Turns Tragic for Young Woman, 18, Who took Ecstacy & Special K Mix

May 21, 2002 | BarbieDoll

[Barbie Doll]

Teen Reported Brain Dead From Prom-Night Excess Email story to a friend SANTA ANA -- An 18-year-old Foothill High School student has been declared brain dead after taking the stimulant Ecstasy, the hallucinogen ketamine and alcohol on her senior prom night, it was reported Tuesday.

Cathy Isford was taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana on Sunday morning, a few hours after the prom. She remained in a coma and was declared brain dead by Sunday evening, the Orange County Register reported.

She will remain on life support for at least another day, the newspaper reported this morning.

Before the prom, the girl told her sister Star that she planed to take a mix of Ecstasy and "Special K," or ketamine, a hallucinogen widely used as an animal tranquilizer.

"She wanted to make it a perfect night," Star Isford, 27, told The Register, adding that she tried to stop her sister from taking the drugs.

"I told her be careful, watch what you do. (But) you can't tell somebody her age what to do," she said.

Police said Cathy became comatose after an apparent overdose brought on by a combination of Ecstasy, ketamine and alcohol.

Cathy Isford, who had planned to become an elementary school teacher, attended the prom with her fiance, Rene Rojas, 26. She snapped pictures of her friends as they danced at Joe's Garage, an auto museum at the Tustin Auto Center, her best friend, Sara Gulley, 18, told The Register.

Then Cathy Isford and Rojas and Gulley and her boyfriend, Jeremy Thomas, 19, went to a hotel in Santa Ana for a small post-prom party. Gulley thinks that Isford took the drugs en route to the hotel or once they arrived there, The Register reported.

"I begged her not to take it," Gulley said, adding that none of the others took drugs.

[Pagey]

"whatever happened to the ol' 12-pak and a fattie??? signed, Class of 1983"

(Oh my god,don't remind me)
Class of '84
(and Thank God I never have to go back THERE.)

[jayef]

She was an asthmatic for cryin out loud. Astmatics an alcohol don't mix. Plus snorting K might be a bad idea for an asthmatic too.

[Saundra Duffy]

Nice sister.

[wardaddy]

Class of 1975 here Barbie. I got plenty of drugs from girls when I was in high school. This is not a girl as victim of boys thing here from what I can tell. It's a girl who's a victim of herself and our culture and just plain bad luck.

[Barbie Doll]

I'm class of 80 myself. I was never interested in taking drugs, because I figured if my father ever caught me taking them, he'd rip my hide to shreds. I didn't want to chance it.

[GoreIsLove]

Is next year's prom tragedy story going to be the poor innocent young thing who just didn't foresee the consequences of washing down a handful of Quaaludes with a big swig of wood alcohol

I'm from '92, and this is the drug horror story they used to always warn us about.

[NYCVirago]

"I begged her not to take it," Gulley said, adding that none of the others took drugs.

Does anybody believe this?

[Barbie Doll]

I don't.

[GoreIsLove]

She begged her not to take it because she wanted more. There is no way that there is a large group of friends hanging out, and only one is not only doing x, but also doing ketamine.

[Barbie Doll]

Why didn't her "fiancee" stop her from taking the drugs?

[VRWC_minion]

Horsepuckey.

Why would I lie ? Further, why deny such thing occur ?

[jayef]

That does indeed strain credibility.

[jayef]

Do you know anything about extasy?

[AdA$tra]

Ketamine and alcohol: bery bery bad. Just like ANY tranquilizers and alcohol. I am afraid the "fatty" has fallen out of vogue.

[VRWC_minion]

Nothing until I read this thread above

It seems to confirm that convulsions and coma's are not uncommon

, as well as her kidney failure.

[AdA$tra]

Oh yeah.....Class of '80 as well.

[denfurb]

Hey Huck,

I'm also from class of '86

[Barbie Doll]

I'm sorry, but I'm "substance-illiterate" when it comes to taking drugs...

[wardaddy]

You had more sense than I did. I was afraid of my dad too but I managed to hide it all fairly well plus parents of my generation barely had a clue anyhow and back then folk's medicine cabinets were full of goodies from paregoric to methaqualone to barbituates to amphetamines to serious little morphine pain killers that looked like sacharrin tablets. Then there was always very strong acid. Shrooms were legal. Pot was 13-15 bucks/oz. The only improvements for today's doper is higher quality pot (albeit costly), crack (we called it freebase), and cheaper purer heroin. All these benzodiazapines like Valium everyone crows about today were considered a trash drug in my day.

In any event, it's still a very dangerous world out there for kids who wish to try drugs beyond pot. I wish I knew the answer. Abstinence is obvious but few heed the call. BTW, I haven't used any drugs recreationally in 20 years. I always knew it would lose it's luster and it did. I think I was more the exception than the rule. Many in my age group now just anesthethize themselves with alcohol and pot or whatever their psychopharmacologist will dole out to a convincing story.

[evad]

Now that she is officially brain dead, she can become head of the NEA.

That's cruel...
...accurate, but cruel.