A woman collapsed and becoming temporarily paralysed after smoking what she believes was a spiked vape on a night out.
Emma Sugrue-Lawrence was enjoying an evening on the tiles with a friend in Wolverhampton last Saturday, when the scary incident took place.
The 44-year-old told BlackCountryLive, a man approached her midway through the night out and offered to buy her a drink.
When she politely declined, he offered her a disposable, 'unicorn-flavoured' vape.
Thinking the stranger was with some mutual friends of theirs she tried it but soon had a bad reaction.
"I had about two puffs then suddenly felt really unwell,” she said.
Emma, a mum-of-three, rushed outside to get some fresh air. She said she leant up against a wall and felt her legs go from underneath her.
While she could hear her friend screaming for help, and was aware of everything going on around her, she said she “couldn’t move or speak”.
Emma's friend Vicky pleaded with nearby police officers to call for an ambulance but says she was 'told to do it herself'.
Thankfully, a couple walking nearby managed to stop and help before calling 999 around 1am.
Emma recalls not being able to hold her head up and struggling to breathe.
"I was freezing cold but sweating and looked like I’d gotten into the shower fully clothed,” she said. "It was the most horrendous experience I’ve ever had."
An ambulance rushed Emma to the hospital, but Vicky wasn’t allowed to accompany her due to Covid restrictions.
She remembers waking up in the hospital shivering, freezing cold, and unable to type on her phone to call her husband. When Vicky arrived back at the hospital later that morning, Emma said she “burst into tears”.
Still reeling from the terrible ordeal, Emma discharged herself from New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton and took herself home.
Emma, who volunteers with a domestic violence group and a suicide prevention group, said she has been left feeling emotional.
While she was “so aware” of these issues due to her volunteer work, she said she never thought any of it would happen to her.
“I didn’t know that a vape could be spiked but you would only have to dip it into something to spike the mouthpiece," she said.
Emma said the Grain Store had been helpful but had not reported the incident to police.
Her aim is now to raise awareness about what happened to her, in the hope that it might prevent another person from going through the same thing.
Since speaking out about the incident on social media, she had people reach out to her, to say that a similar thing had happened to them.
Since a 16-hour sleep, she’d been trying to keep herself busy, so as not to focus on what had happened.
"I honestly feel lucky that I had people around me to help – it could have been so much worse,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Grain Store told BlackCountryLive : "We take the safety of all our patrons very seriously.
"We will assist the police with any enquiries should they contact us."
