A mum has shared harrowing photos of her teenage daughter lying 'lifeless' in a coma in hospital after a vodka binge with her pals.
Melissa Aho posted the images of 15-year-old Ryleigh Ackles online in a bid to warn other children about the potentially fatal dangers of alcohol.
She said her daughter was left 'foaming at the mouth', repeatedly falling over and vomiting into her lungs after downing popular Cîroc vodka .
The teenager, who weighs less than 7 stone, nearly died after her blood alcohol content soared to a staggering .28 - a near-fatal level.
But fortunately, she survived after being rushed to hospital - after one of the girls she was with alerted her mum to her serious condition.
In a Facebook post, Melissa, from Massachusetts, US, described how Ryleigh had told her she was going to a sleepover at her friend's house.
She wrote: "This past Saturday night my 15 year old daughter asked me to sleep at a friend's house and go to the movies. I said yes.
"She has always been very good about communicating with me and checking in with me.
"But her plans changed that night and the series of events that followed are nothing that any family should have to experience.
"I received a fb [Facebook] message at 1am saying someone had received a phone call saying that my daughter Ryleigh was somewhere passed out.
"Immediately my heart sank and I tried to call her phone repeatedly and of course there was no answer.
"I questioned who, where, when, whys...and received no answer back because that girl was already in route of finding the girl who called her and my daughter, picked them up and brought them to my driveway.
"As I opened the car door to see my daughter, lifeless and foaming at the mouth covered in vomit. 911 was on their way."
Ryleigh was taken by ambulance to Heywood Hospital in Massachusetts, before being intubated and transferred to UMass Memorial Medical Center.
There, her distraught family were told she was no longer breathing on her own at all.
For the next 14 hours, Melissa said she 'begged and pleaded' with doctors, while memories from her daughter's life flashed through her mind.
And to her amazement, the teenager eventually opened her eyes.
Melissa wrote in the Facebook post: "I suffered 14 long hours pleading and begging for my daughter's life, experiencing flashbacks from the moment she was born, to her first smile and giggle, the first time she said Mumma, her first step, her 1st birthday, her first day of school, her first friendship, sleepover, sickness, her graduation of middle school, our private mother daughter moments, laughing, joking, running, snuggling and so forth.
"I was thinking of her siblings and what losing her would do to them and the rest of her family and all of the people that love her."
She added: "My beautiful daughter finally by the grace of God opened her big beautiful green eyes to see her Mumma and asked for her sister.
"We are on our way to a long recovery due to breathing issues, bodily injury from her repeatedly falling while intoxicated, lacerations to her eye, and the worry she doesn't develop a pneumonia from vomit being in her lungs, so we are not fully out of the woods yet, but she is home, safe and as comfortable as she can be right now."
Thankfully, Ryleigh, from Gardner, Worcester County, is expected to make a full recovery.
Melissa said she decided to share the images of her daughter in a coma to warn other children about 'the dangers of under-age drinking and what it can do'.
She also said she wished to highlight how important it is for teenagers to look out for each other - and to reach out for help when something is wrong.
She wrote: "My daughter was with a group of teens, I'm sure as the started to notice some signs that Ryleigh was not okay panic started to set in, they thought they would get in trouble if they tried to get help so they left her there.
"Only 1 girl who was not even her friend but an acquaintance stayed with her, trying to find a way to get my information and she succeeded.
"She didn't care about getting in trouble herself, she wanted to get her the help she so desperately needed...
"I'm sharing our experience so that EVERY TEEN who may come to be in this situation knows....you will NOT get in trouble for getting someone help!!!!
"You have the ability to SAVE a precious life."
A blood alcohol content of .35 or higher can be fatal, while .25-.30 can result in loss of motor functions, unconsciousness and severe vomiting.
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