The last time I did heroin, I died for 7 minutes
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John "Plex" Dooling of Delaware says he died for seven minutes in 2012 after overdosing on heroin. (Emma Lee/for The Pulse)
The date was July 15, 2012. It’s the date that John “Plex” Dooling remembers as the day he died.
“For seven minutes,” he clarifies.
It was on that summer day, a day after several months of not using drugs, that Dooling decided to get high with a friend.
His memory of what followed is blurry. What is crystal clear, he says: He wouldn’t be alive to tell this story if not for a friend who, despite being on probation, called for help. As a result, his friend got sent back to jail, and Dooling was saved by the responding paramedics.
Listen to his full story at the top of this page.
(By the way, it’s about seven minutes long.)
Today, Dooling is a wellness advocate at Brandywine Counseling in Wilmington, working intensively in his community to combat a surge in drug-related overdoses, not too far from the very spot where he overdosed.
Music by Ben Von Wildenhaus was featured in this story.
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