Lodi father's nightmare:

The night his daughter nearly died from alcohol poisoning

This letter was written by the father of a 13-year-old Lodi girl who nearly died of alcohol poisoning recently near the downtown movie theater. He is hopeful that, by sharing his account, more attention will be given to the issue of teen drinking. We are honoring his request for anonymity to protect his daughter.

On Friday, May 4, I received a life-changing phone call.

It was the Lodi police department informing me that my daughter had been found unconscious in an alley and apparently had had a considerable amount to drink. She was being transported to Lodi Memorial Hospital and I was to meet them there. Surely, this was some type of prank call. After all, I had dropped my daughter off at the movies only two hours before. But the more the officer talked the more I knew this was serious and it was real.

There was nothing I had done in life prior to the moment the ambulance had arrived that could have prepared me for what I saw. There on that gurney lay my precious 13-year-old daughter. She was not moving, her eyes were closed.

After some time of evaluation, the attending physician informed me that she was completely unresponsive to pain stimuli, and had no gag reflex and this would be cause for grave concern as she would not be able to aspirate if she were to regurgitate. She could literally drown. He then told me she was in critical condition.

To my knowledge this was the first time my daughter had consumed alcohol and now here he is telling me that this is not simply a case of too much to drink, she is actually in grave danger and her life is at risk.

It was all I could do to remain standing. This was not happening. Surely I must have slipped into a nightmare and was going to wake up at any moment.

As time went on, the doctor continued to update me with test results and I began to feel hope that she was going to make it. Friends and family had arrived at the hospital for support and comfort and everyone was there with her in their hearts.

Ultimately, she had to be transferred to Sacramento as Lodi Memorial is not equipped to deal with Pediatric ICU. The last couple days have been very trying on friends and family and I am pleased to report that my daughter is going to be fine and will return to school this week. Today she even told me that she was going to go to school and hug her least favorite teacher.

You see, the attending physician told me that he was 100 percent confident, no doubt, that had Officer Schlagel, the bicycle patrol officer, not ridden down that alley to respond to a tip of juvenile drinking, that my daughter would have expired on the spot within another hour.

When I told my daughter about this and we talked about what happened, she broke down. She doesn't want to die; she wants to live. She had no idea whatsoever about the effects of alcohol and how little it took. Unfortunately, she had way more than a little.

That night, she was not alone in her drinking. The alcohol came from somewhere and those that were drinking thought they were going to have some fun. I have had the chance to talk to several of the others that were involved that night and I only asked that they all take something positive out of the experience and spread the news.

I am opening my heart to share this painful story for a reason. I have been under the impression that downtown movie nights on Friday was an innocent activity. It has been a subject of controversy in the community.

Now I have experienced why. It appears that this once-thought-to-be innocent activity is not so innocent after all. And it will probably be a long time before my daughter will be able to participate again. I consider the officer that intervened that night as a hero. Literally, he saved my daughter's life. He has called me twice to check on how she is doing. He has been both compassionate and professional and takes the job of Protecting and Serving very seriously. But he is also outmanned out there. As a community, we need to address this problem. I don't know what the solution is. Approving more police officers to patrol the streets, stricter curfews, creating no occupancy zones downtown, more parental involvement, optional activities for youth, or something else.

But something needs to change.

Additionally, I would like to commend the Emergency Room staff at Lodi Memorial led by Dr. Rabey. They worked quickly, decisively, and always made sure we were kept updated. Their efforts and the team of Pediatric ICU Specialists from Santa Clara that transported her from Lodi to Sacramento gave us another chance with our daughter.

I talk openly with my daughter about drugs and alcohol in the schools and thought I had a pretty good handle on what was going on with her. It appears that they don't tell us everything.

If I could pass anything on from this experience, I would say hug your child a little harder, ask a few more questions, know their friends better, or simply help them make smarter choices.