Isabella woke up in bed and realised she was paralysed and things got worse from there
15:12, 06 May 2025Updated 16:00, 06 May 2025
A woman has told how her £30,000 ketamine addiction stopped her heart – and left her bedbound and weighing just three-and-a-half stone(Image: Isabella Gawley© SWNS)
When Isabella Gawley was first offered ketamine, she had no idea it would one day almost kill her. The then 16-year-old, from Liverpool, took the drug in 2021 at a party, which then spiralled into a £30,000 addiction.
It was this addiction that led her to drop to three and a half stone in weight and suffer a near-fatal cardiac arrest just three years later. Now the teenager is warning others about the effects of the drug, claiming that children as young as 12 are using it.
Ketamine is an anaesthetic for humans and animals, but is illegal for use recreationally. It is a Class B drug, which means it’s illegal to have for yourself, give away or sell.
The latest government figures show that the drug’s usage among 16-24 year olds in England has tripled since 2016. Around 269,000 people aged 16-59 reported using ketamine in the year ending March 2024.
Chronic ketamine use has been linked to a number of serious health issues, including bladder damage and raising heart rate. In January this year, drag star The Vivienne, died from a cardiac arrest caused by the effects of taking ketamine.
Isabella, now 19, has shared her own experience saying she could relate to The Vivienne, whose real name was James Lee Williams. She recalled how she managed to afford it by sharing the drug with her friends, describing it as “readily available” and “easy to source” with just “pocket money” needed to buy it.
Isabella Gawley, 19, first took the drug in October 2021 as a one-off, aged 16, when it was offered to her at a party(Image: Isabella Gawley© SWNS)
Isabella got hooked on the powerful horse tranquiliser and anaesthetic before becoming dependent on it after her grandmother died, using it daily. Excessive use eventually led to excruciating chronic pains in her bladder and kidneys.
Eventually, ketamine left her at three and a half stone and bed-bound, and her kidney and bladder damage meant she had to go to the toilet “every five minutes”. On the day she had the cardiac arrest, Isabella had not even been able to move out of her bed, despite having not taken the drug for five days.
The paramedics carried out CPR in her house and during the ambulance drive, and this continued once she arrived at hospital, coupled with defibrillators to try to shock her back to life.
She said: “I woke up in the morning and I couldn’t feel my whole body. I was paralysed from head to toe. I couldn’t move my body, or my legs or my arms.
“I could barely project my voice to tell my mum I needed help. When she came up she rang the ambulance straight away and the paramedics had to slide me off my bed – I only had a dressing gown on.”
It was then that she made a decision to change. Isabella continued: “I realised at that point what I’d put my mum through. I could see the trauma in her eyes.
“It was the realisation that enough was enough – I thought to myself ‘I’m so much better than this’ and I stopped for good, so I guess the cardiac arrest was the best thing for me. I needed that wake-up call – no one would make me stop but myself.”
The doctor informed her she would have to wear incontinence pads for the rest of her life. But having been sober for more than six months, her body has recovered and she is no longer incontinent or suffers extreme pain.
Isabella said: “I used to sit on my floor instead of my bed because I was buckled over in pain. I’d put heaters behind my back because it was the only thing that would help. And one time one hairdryer melted into my bed.
“But now my body has made a near-full recovery. The doctor said I’d have to wear nappy pads for the rest of my life, but I don’t any longer as my body has healed after three years of near constant [ketamine] usage.
“I turned from a physically active, sporty girl into a literal bone, there was no fat, no muscles, and my face drooped. And it caused some of my relationships with family members to sour too.
She is now speaking out to help break a taboo around ketamine and drug dependency across the UK(Image: Isabella Gawley© SWNS)
“I’m quite young and I feel like I have to speak about it and break a taboo around it. It’s hard but it’s going to be the best thing to do. I’d rather tell people and help them than keep it to myself.”
Isabella has concerns that young people do not understand what the drug can do to the human body and to family relations. “Kids need to understand that your family are going to watch you and see your gravestone, which I didn’t realise at the time – I know that there are 12-year-olds who are just damaging their bodies from ketamine,” she said.
“I’ve come back and I’m a million times stronger, both mentally and physically. I came out of hospital and, although it has left me with permanent damage, the pains now and again are nothing compared to what I used to feel.”
Speaking about the death of The Vivienne, she said: “The Vivienne died in a bathroom because she was alone and there was no one there to do CPR. It’s lucky I wasn’t on my own, because my mum was around – she stuck by me the whole way.
“I feel like I can really appreciate life now and the extreme situation I was in and that’s why I don’t care if people laugh about me coming forward, as I’ve turned my life around and I want to help other people do that.”
Isabella is grateful for another chance at life. She added: “When my heart started again, I was fortunate. I got given that second chance that so many don’t get.
“But it wasn’t the cardiac arrest that scared me into stopping my ketamine addiction – it was the look on my mum’s face.
“My mum watched me effectively die in front of her eyes and no mum should watch their 18-year-old daughter nearly die in front of them.
“I really feel I wasn’t meant to come back. It was a living miracle.”
If you or someone else needs urgent help after taking drugs or drinking, call 999 for an ambulance. To find drug support advice near you, visit talktofrank.com/get-help/find-support-near-you.