With her nursing background Jean Foley had probably been involved in several attempts over the years to resuscitate a dying person. But nothing could possibly have prepared her for Christmas Eve of last year when she found her 36-year-old son, Richard, lying motionless on the floor of his bedroom after arriving home that afternoon after a night out with his mates. She tried to revive him by administering CPR. Paramedics later declared him dead. He had stopped breathing after suffering a heart attack.
Richard Foley died after taking an overdose of heroin according to a forensic scientist who examined him. He had been a heroin user for 14 years, having tried a few times, unsuccessfully, to quit. An inquest into his death, undertaken in his home county of Berkshire, southern England, revealed that he had cut down his usage of late and that a reduced tolerance for the drug may have resulted in him taking more than he could handle.
But what makes his death even more tragic is that his family and friends had no idea he was a heroin user and had been so for the past 14 years. He worked on a construction site and appeared strong and healthy. His mother had never seen needle track marks on him (although a paramedic present at the scene testified that he had seen track marks on his left hand and groin). And she was too busy trying to save his life at the time to notice a syringe and cigarette lighter at the bottom of his bed beside a shoebox, plus a syringe and spoon near his body.
