Poisoned by his own prescription medication, John Anderson tried to dial 911. But his vision was blurred, and his trembling fingers went limp.
“I start vomiting to the point where my vision got blurry,” he said. “It was just getting worse and worse. I tried to fight off the feeling and I just couldn’t do it. I was starting to fade away.”
Without the help of his six-year-old daughter, Tiana, Anderson has little doubt he would have died that sunny afternoon in July.
“Don’t think that your kid is just a little kid, they’re so much more than that,” Anderson said during an interview on CBC’s Edmonton AM radio program.
“She’s my little superhero.”
‘She knew what to do’
That day started like so many others this past summer. The family was whiling away their vacation with three months of camping at the Fairview RV Park in northern Alberta.
Tiana was just returning from playing in a park nearby when Anderson collapsed. Her response, Anderson said, was nothing short of “heroic.”
“I dropped to my knees and my phone fell and I pointed in the direction of where to get help. My daughter, she instantly ran to get help at six years old. She knew what to do, with no distractions. Very impressive.”
‘My daughter, she instantly ran to get help at six years old. She knew what to do.’ – John Anderson
As her father fell unconscious on the floor of the RV, Tiana ran to the camp supervisor for help.
By the time Anderson, 37, regained consciousness, paramedics had arrived.
“I remember EMS slamming their elbow on my chest and slapping me in the face when I started to somewhat come to. My heart rate was still so very low they had to rush me to hospital,” Anderson said.
In a hospital bed, he couldn’t see or open his eyes. He asked the nurse if he was dying.
“The nurse’s reply was, ‘All we can say to you, sir, is that we’re doing everything we can for you.’ So I knew I was in rough shape,” Anderson said.
Anderson said he suffered an accidental overdose caused by Valium, a benzodiazepine used to treat anxiety. He sought the prescription from his doctor as a way to cope with the recent death of his mother.
It was the first time he had taken the drug.
“I only took it the night before and the next day, and that’s when it happened,” Anderson said.
“And the stuff was in my system for so long, there was no sense in pumping my stomach because it wouldn’t have done anything, so they just had to try to dilute the actual drug in my system and hope for the best.”
‘I’m just glad to be alive’
Anderson says his dosage has since been adjusted to a single pill once a day — down from three to four pills, three to four times a day.
Despite the “huge discrepancy,” Anderson has no plans to launch any complaint against his doctor, and said he would rather spend his time focusing on his family.
“It’s amazing what knowing that you almost died does to you,” he said.
“When you make an iced tea and you’re thankful because you’re still here to taste it, when you’re giving your daughter a close embrace, all those little things. They matter and people don’t see that until they have that near-death experience.
“I’m just glad to be alive.”