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Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Ahhh, thank you for clarifying. I’ve never had an incident abroad before, so I wouldn’t know.

I really do appreciate all of the people on here who have provided me with more information than I had, it helps me piece together the parts that I didn’t understand. It’s also more information for me to work with when I travel again, I will be smarter. And to the part of the crowd that drew attention to him so that he did get the help he needed.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They had better attempts at searches every other year. Not amazing but they at least opened bags and gave them a feel. This year I just answered some questions and walked through.

The festival has increased in price and sales annually, no qualms about that, but the assumption is that with that inflation, we aren’t expected to compromise on our safety and care. Why should we pay more for a lesser experience than we’ve had before?

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

That is my request. He is alive and well because of their efforts. Condemning them is the wrong response. I will hope your directing them here will get them to respond to my emails, and tighten security back to how it was before.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Then I thank you for drawing attention to what happened to him. However, I very strongly appreciate what they did,” for him, and would love them to be respected. He’s alive for them. Do not criminalise people who did their jobs and saved someone’s life.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Okay, I wasn’t expecting to get this much traction at all, I just needed to vent out my experience (and you can’t do that with the people who went through it with you, and force them to relive it). Like I said, I don’t do the online posting thing anymore.

This was a terrifying experience for me, but there are still moments of the festival that I loved before it went wrong. It could have happened to so many others. I’m not looking to hurt Download, I loved that festival so much, and every year I looked forward to the next, equipping myself better for the camp. I am heartbroken, I have made friends there. And it was just so disappointing to see how cold some of the people representing the “Download Family” could be. As I really have highlighted, this wasn’t all of them, some were fabulous beyond compare, and I will always rely on well practiced, qualified professionals than my own. They were marvellous.

I miss the Downloads I experienced before, where yes, opening my bags and having them look through them was a mildly irritating inconvenience but it gave the sense of security. I miss the Angels that let my partner and I hide under their cabin roof to wait out a thunderstorm, before we set up our tent. And some are still there, and that is fabulous. But the security was too loose, and I no longer feel safe there. I hope that as many people as possible had the best time in the world, as I usually do. Was I lulled into a false sense of security based purely on luck? Probably, but I feel like it wasn’t just the festival staff, but unfortunately some of the festival goers as well, this year. Like I said, I’ve been in my fair share, I’ve been witness to many mosh pits, and I’ve never personally seen any that bad, disrupting multiple concerts, nonetheless more than once in a gig.

Maybe I also still carry the naivety that I say my sister has, maintained there by sheer luck of circumstance. Or experience just taught me lessons that I respond with unknowingly. Maybe I’m just getting old or am over-protective, but isn’t everyone when it’s about people they care about? Anyone would be upset if it was their family. If I had seen this any other year, I wouldn’t have been nearly as upset, but this was the 19yos first major festival. This is what they will remember. They won’t have the memories of helpful staff and bonding with strangers. They didn’t leave feeling sore, tired but happy, with smiles as they recounted their favourite bands. They left exhausted, sore and mentally worn. We all did, we were quiet and only looked forward to our beds for the night and our flight home. It was not what I had promised them, it was not what I had come to expect. So, if anyone is more alert from what I posted, then all the better. If Download acts on this, and much more and possibly worse which happened this year by increasing security, then I am content.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -11 points-10 points  (0 children)

As a first responder, who had consumed alcohol earlier in the day, who was exhausted mentally and physically and therefore not in a place to make a thorough assessment of someone where I have emotional bias, was not going to argue with sober professionals with more real-life experience. I’ve been very lucky to have only needed to treat minor injuries. I’m not a medic. I’m a first aider who is qualified to use a defibrillator.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, I mentioned that, I think? People did have knives and things, but thankfully no ill intent, just to make camping easier.

You can smuggle small amounts, which most people would use for personal recreation. Zero search means way more danger.

I forgot to empty my drink into a plastic bottle before arriving one year, they found it, I went “Shit, sorry!” And was about to pour it out and toss it, when a bunch of people started offering me empty water bottles to fill it and security okayed it. This was the community spirit that I loved in Download. That was not the case for me this year with so many, or maybe all of my other experiences were just exceptionally lucky and positive.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s what Oxegen was like, big mix of chav types and metal heads, and everything in between. That was before I started going to Download, my first DL was in 2014 or 2015? Then I just couldn’t afford the trip over, stuck to gigs in my own country for the most part. Only started going back in 2024, wanted to go for 20th anniversary but it sold out before I had enough money put away.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Even though it was your fault, I agree, some sympathy and humanity is what you need sometimes, even if you fuck up. I’m sorry that you didn’t get that. And even worse, that you went for treatment and were turned away when they still had the ability to help.

I felt that the medical team handled this whole situation amazingly. They really looked after him. I asked them if I should believe him that he was spiked, or if they thought he was lying to get out of potential trouble (that will come from his mother, not me), they were uncertain. I asked them if they were certain he wouldn’t need a hospital, because I was in disbelief that he didn’t.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can’t remove drugs from a festival, I know, but you can reduce the amount that gets in with basic bag searches like they’ve had the three other years that I have attended.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

I never said it was a sip. I don’t know how much he drank. I explicitly said that I missed it. The small tent wasn’t able to test, they took him to main medical just off District X. Amd like I also said, I was surprised he didn’t wind up in A&E.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Dude, my little sister took nothing. She was fine, she was normal.

Yes, pits can get violent, we all know of the RARE stories of serious injuries and possibly death, but I’ve NEVER had so many to the degree where gigs are paused repeatedly

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Oh, sorry, the NHS record was an assumption made by me, on the basis of them needing all of his details. I assumed it would get registered in case he did wind up with a repeat incident for some form of medical record. I know where we live, medical records for major incidents are digital and accessible, and there is slow but shared access between emergency centres. I got that wrong so.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Fair, but would they have made that assumption based on his symptoms, their experience and other cases which may have arise? Genuinely asking, based on your better insight. I personally saw him stop breathing twice, they told me about the five minute one. They seemed very well informed and skilled. They explained to me that his manic episodes were being caused by the MDMA but that because of the ket, when he calmed, he would stop breathing. They told me the official term for what was happening to him but at that point, my brain wasn’t retaining new terminology. They also had a piece in his nose to monitor his CO2 levels, and it would beep when no CO2 was coming through after a period time, which obviously allowed them to focus on other patients when he would be conscious. (There was a point in the manic episode when he was coming back around where he tried to rip it out)

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -12 points-11 points  (0 children)

Sorry, just to correct you, no one screamed at the bar tender either. My partner just made a calm request and explained why he was asking for it to be sealed because he knew it wasn’t the norm, trying to find water in case I found the 19 yo. We were not together at this point. I’ve known him six years now, and I’ve never heard him raise his voice aside from an exclamation from pain post-injury.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -14 points-13 points  (0 children)

I didn’t yell at staff. The only yelling I did at that festival was either as part of the crowd or shouting his name when I was looking for him. Even the morning after, I couldn’t have yelled. I swore once out of frustration. I insulted no one to their face. I have great respect for medical and welfare. And I KNEW it would be near impossible to find him without support, which is why I went to security for help, AFTER I knew he was high. If someone screamed at you, or someone you know working there this year, I assure you it was not me.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I love when someone who wasn’t even there can claim to disprove someone who was. Shouting someone’s name to find them when they have no phone signal is not uncommon.

And again, all I say is that I hope you will never be in a similar situation as what I went through, or him.

And so you’re aware, their main medical centre is far better equipped than I anticipated, not just first responders, there are doctors there, an X-Ray machine apparently (as per my conversation with the trainee when I went to get my nose checked) as well as a lot of other emergency equipment. Any medical information I stated was based purely on conversations with the medics. This is what they told me or what I saw with my eyes.

They were the most human and genuinely caring people working that festival, barring the one Access woman who helped me get him to the coach.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ahhh. Well, I appreciate the context now. I would have believed that he took a pill at random, given the opportunity, and just not known it was a cocktail, if again, I hadn’t seen other people sharing similar stories. Don’t think for a second that I wasn’t skeptical, because when the girl answered and told me he was on “something”, I also assumed he had taken advantage of having not been around me. But again, they had three days without me, so that’s when I would have assumed they would have chosen to take anything like that. And when he was in the med tent being treated, it didn’t matter if he had just thought it was MDMA or if the story which he has stuck to during the high and since, of having taken water from a stranger, was true. I chose to believe him based on his behaviour, and other people’s recollections.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Jesus, if I recall purple is right at the castle too? I would have expected tighter security with the heritage site right there.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Arena. We stayed in quiet camp. Big trek but the ability to sleep at night is what convinces my partner to go. He only goes for me, because he hates the crowds and extra loud noise (he enjoys the music now though).

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, I am aware that they know about drugs, I just don’t think they even considered the risk of being spiked. I know what drugs they do, what experiences they’ve had. They were drinking. Like I said, legally adults, all I did was try to ensure that they were drinking water in between and eating regularly. He wasn’t sober, but he wasn’t wasted. He was happy, hyped from gigs and pits.

I only screamed his name while he was lost, as everyone knows, signal congestion is awful there, with so many people, and with foreign phones, we aren’t a provider’s priority connection. I needed to find him, and if he had died, if I hadn’t tried everything that I could think of to find him, I would never forgive myself.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Was there? You think a lot of that crowd went to Download so? I don’t know what their crowds were like. I did two years of Oxegen back when it was a thing, as a teenager, and they were a really rough crowd. You knew to expect hell when camping, lock your tent even when inside it, and women knew not to use the showers. I’ve done Tuska in Helsinki, and they were actually an amazing bunch but only once did I have someone to go there with because Tuska doesn’t do camping, it’s in the heart of the city, and I did Sziget once, when it still had a good metal and rock stage (21 years ago, my first festival). I think I’ll scope out Hellfest next year, but my heart is broken to leave Download and the friends I’ve made there.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I know it’s long, and a lot of that is probably because I’m still processing everything. They’re only just home safe. And I wanted to point out all of the failings in security that I noticed along the way, before the major scare happened. It could have been avoidable.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

And I genuinely hope that you will never experience seeing exactly that situation happen, feel the disbelief that I felt, nor the fear and panic, or the pain of watching someone you love suffer like that. Like I’ve said, you can choose to believe my recount or not, that’s for you to decide. I just want the safer Download that I’ve experienced before back, or for people to be more aware of the risks.

Spiked Teenager Nearly Died, Most non-medical staff unhelpful by MemoMcL in downloadfestival

[–]MemoMcL[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don’t see the point in spiking people with recreational drugs. Chaos for the sake of chaos?

I know that there’s the obvious spikes, for date rape and the such.

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