Parents will go to great lengths to protect their kids, and this Brooklyn dad proved that he was even willing to risk his own life by overdosing on heroin in order to save his son.
45-year-old Sergey Gnatovskiy told journalists, “I told him if you’re not going to stop, I will do the same as you do. I [tried] to send him to rehab. He promised me he was going to go, and I found it again.”
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His 23-year-old son Maykl Gnatovskiy has struggled with addiction for many years, even being kicked out of his mother’s home because of his illegal drug habits.
One day, Sergey says he had enough and decided to show his son what happens to people who overdose.
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While incredibly dangerous, Sergey’s move seems to have worked, as Maykl says the sight of his father passed out on the floor of their apartment was so shocking that it made him want to head to rehab.
“After seeing this, I definitely want to go. I’ve been doing this since I was 15. I’m 23 now, I can’t keep doing this,” Maykl said.
Maykl immediately knew his father had overdosed and proceeded to use CPR, as well as Narcan nasal spray, to get him conscious again.
Coincidentally, this is something Sergey has had to do for Maykl on at least four other occasions.
Sergey told reporters that he felt back to normal the following day and genuinely can’t remember much of what happened.
He says that all he can recall is getting up to turn the TV off and then waking up flanked by “medical people.” Sergey said, “My son was screaming at me, ‘Pop, Pop, are you crazy, you almost died.’”
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While Sergey is trying to do everything he can to save his son, they’re both actually in danger of losing the roof over their heads.
“I’m trying to kick him out of my apartment and into rehab,” Sergey said. “We’ve been notified of eviction and I need to prove he’s gone by May 31, which was yesterday, or I’m out as well.”
Even though it could cost him everything, Sergey is willing to go to any extreme to save Maykl.
Through tears, he was heard saying to his son, “If I lose you โ I don’t know. Look what you made me do yesterday? I’ll give you my home, my car, my heart. I don’t want to lose you.”
[H/T: New York Post]