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| BRAT CAMP SAVED OUR DAUGHTER http://www.bbfans.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=24817 |
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| Author: | JimD [ 19 Feb 06, 17:43 ] |
| Post subject: | BRAT CAMP SAVED OUR DAUGHTER |
19 February 2006 People By Melanie Swan Drugs agony of Lydia,17 A DEVOTED mum and dad have told how TV's Brat Camp saved the life of their druggie daughter. Lydia Rowlands, 17, had gone hopelessly off the rails - overdosing twice on ecstasy and stealing from friends and family to fuel her habit. Mother Tina, who feared drugs were about to kill Lydia, said: "She'd become a stranger to us - a monster." In desperation, Tina and husband Brian sent their daughter for 10 gruelling weeks at the Utah camp featured in the Channel 4 reality show. And as Lydia herself told The People: "It's really worked." Lydia - who took cannabis when she was 12 and dropped out of her posh private school at 15 - is now off drugs. The once cherubic youngster from a middle-class home in Southampton turned to drugs after being bullied. She said: "It pushed me into the wrong crowd. I smoked weed most days and by 14 I was doing speed once or twice a week. "I would stay out for nights or weeks on end. Some nights I'd sleep in parks. A lot of the time I stayed with a drug dealer. "I stole my mum's i-Pod and kids' mobile phones and sold them to pay off £300 of drug debts. The person I owed money to threatened to attack me. He told me there were other ways I could pay my debts - sexual ways." Lydia was rushed to hospital after taking three ecstasy tablets in her bedroom. Tina, 40, recalled: "On the stretcher her eyes were rolling and she was unrecognisable." The second overdose was a nightmare reminder of the fate of 18-year-old Leah Betts, who died after taking ecstasy at a party. Lydia collapsed, stopped breathing for a while and went berserk in an ambulance. Tina, a trainee counsellor, said: "We didn't know if she would pull through. It was a parent's worst nightmare." But after Brat Camp, Lydia volunteered for a project to aid troubled teens and enrolled for a performing arts course. She said: "I'm so glad I did Brat Camp. Who knows what would have happened to me." Transport boss Brian, 50, said: "She made our life hell. She's so different now - it's amazing." Lydia added: "Brat Camp was life saving for Lydia. We've got our daughter back." Brat Camp, Channel 4, Wednesday 9pm. Brat Camp Unseen follows at 10pm on E4. |
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