Category: Our stories

Energy Drink Dangers

Dad Joe Slaughter shared his sons story to raise awareness.

Good Morning Everyone,

I would like to take a moment to share a story with all of you. While some may not have any children still at home, the information still is very much true for your College aged Children and beyond.

This past Saturday, my Wife and I was at the Fire Station helping work Our Dept’s Fish Fry. My Mom an Dad was nice enough to come down and spend the day with my 3 youngest Children while my older 2, 14 and 17 had to work at their jobs.

Around 315ish, while running errands for the FD, I received a call from one of my Firefighters to get to My sons place of employment now. My wife had just received a call that something had happen to my 14 yr old at work and that she had left the Station like a bat out of hell.

I obviously immediately headed there and called my wife to let her know I was inroute, only to be told by her thru her tears and hysteria that she doesn’t know what’s going on but my Son has been shocked by the FD on scene. Needless to say, I quickly reduced my travel time by going emergent to the scene in the FD apparatus I was driving at the time to find my 14 yr old son on the ground, and unresponsive. The Medic Crew informed me that He was in SVT (Super Ventricular Tachycardia) and was shocked twice to get his heart back into a sinus rhythm.
As I arrived on scene they was just about to move Him to the ambulance, and my wife had arrived on scene and parked a bit away but behind the ambulance and watched them load Our Son who to her appeared to be completely lifeless. She was as you can imagine hysterical and I had to drive her to the Hospital following the Ambulance.

Upon our arrival at the Hospital, because I’m a Firefighter/EMT and was in Uniform. I was allowed to walk in with the medic crew to the Shock Room while my wife went and parked the car.

Long story short, my son was unresponsive for well over an hour at the Hospital on top of the time He was unresponsive during transport.
But did eventually wake up.

My son was a victim of Energy Drinks, not drugs.

He had as all adolescents do, over indulged in good tasting energy drinks and it caused his heart to go into SVT as well as a Seizure. (My son has no past medical history).
He is home but will have to do follow ups with a Cardiologist and a Neurologist later this week.

As a result of this incident, I’ve started doing research on my own with the help of a lot of Other Medical Professionals from Our Community.

Facts:
The average container of Energy Drinks have around 160mg of Caffeine per container.

At 200mg most adolescents start to experience side affects from the caffeine.

At 400 mg it causes severe side affect to include tachycardia, seizures as well as liver and Kidney issues.

It’s recommended that Adolescents not consume more than 100mg per day of Caffeine based off the research I’ve been able to find.

I’m not looking for Sympathy, as a parent and a Member of Public Safety. I’ve made it my mission now to raise awareness with Parents and the Students of My Community on the true dangers these drinks have.

I would also add that adolescents aren’t the only ones affected. Adults can and are as easily affected if they overindulge.
I would Encourage all of you to do a little research on your own, take the time to educate your own Children. Whether they still live at home or not. I wouldn’t wish the Hell We went thru this past Saturday on my worst enemy.

Credit https://www.facebook.com/steven.walker.393

When you open your mouth to judge a mother, bite your tongue first.
Pregnancy hurts.
Birth hurts.
Breastfeeding hurts
Watching your baby cry hurts
Not sleeping well, it hurts.
Serving everyone and being the last hurts.
Not having time for yourself – hurts.

The mother needs help, not to be criticized,
she needs love and not to be judged,
she takes care of everyone, but she needs to take care of herself as well.
Motherhood is not as gentle as it seems, motherhood is beautiful, yes, but it is very difficult.
What’s beautiful is the love that a mother has for her child, that love is capable of enduring everything!! ️

🗞Lorry driver wrongly branded paedo ‘raped with metal pipe’ before being beaten to death🗞

WARNING – DISTRESSING CONTENT Four people have been charged after a truck driver who was the victim of a “joke” made by a 10-year-old girl was subjected to a brutal sex assault before being killed

A truck driver who was brutally raped with a metal pipe before being beaten to death had been wrongly accused by a group of vigilantes of being a paedophile.

Two women and two men have been charged following the killing of Dmitry Chikvarkin, 48, after a 10-year-old girl “joked” that she and a three-year-old had been assaulted.

Chikvarkin’s head wounds inflicted with the same metal pipe were so severe that the priest at his funeral in Russia refused to allow relatives to see his face in the coffin.

And the family of the victim – a former police driver who was the father of a six-year-old girl and ran his own lorry business – has said the charges are not serious enough and have called for them to be upgraded to murder.

Mother Valeria Dunaeva, 25, is accused of causing grievous bodily harm resulting in death after leading the attacks on Chikvarkin.

Sergey Chabin, 34, and Mikhail Ivanov, 29, face the same charge plus sexual assault on the man they wrongly accused of being a child abuser.

Alina Mikhailova, 29, the 10-year-old’s mum, is accused of “threatening murder”.

The women showed “great cruelty and sadistic imagination” when Chikvarkin was killed in a drunken frenzy, according to a report citing law enforcement officers.

Chikvarkin died from head injuries following the horrific attack.

Police said it happened after the girl claimed she and her younger friend had been “touched below the waist”, but it had been a “lie”. The cops added that the children had been “joking”, with fatal consequences.

The lorry driver had been asked to drive the children to a woman carer, the investigation found, but his good deed led to the false accusation.

A friend said: “He was always ready to help, and this was his mistake.”

Dunaeva, Chabin, and Ivanov face up to 15 years in jail, while Mikhailova faces a lesser sentence if found guilty of her charges.

But Dmitry Zhikin, the lawyer for the victim’s family, said: “We disagree with this decision and have filed a motion [for] murder charges.”

Chikvarkin was described as a “loving father” by his family and as “brave and fearless” by his former colleagues.

📸 Dmitry Chikvarkin was sexually assaulted and beaten to death after being wrongly accused📸

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
So we’ve all heard not to drink really cold water in the heat, but a lot of us haven’t heard the why or experienced it first hand. Cold water is good, so how could it be bad? Well, yesterday I found out. We were out working in 100° weather (not a good idea in itself) when my dad noticed my face was getting pretty red and suggested that I take a break.

I immediately grabbed a cold bottle of water and drank it. After he did a little more work he suggested that I get in the truck and blast the a.c.. in the truck I drank some more cold water and very shortly started feeling strange. I started seeing spots, my stomach got extremely nauseous and my hands and feet started tingling. I felt like I was going to throw up so I opened the truck door and the next thing I know I’m face first in the ground and my dad’s rolling me over and wiping off my face. Heh said my eyes had rolled back a bit and I didn’t come to for a few minutes.

Emt arrived and asked what was going on. Immediately the guy knew what happened. Apparently, if you’re too hot and chug a bottle of cold water, it Can send your body into shock. It thinks that the stomach is going hypothermic and so it takes the warm blood from your hand,feet and head and sends it to the stomach. You will lose consciousness. He said cold water is good, but only in sips. Room temperature water is better if you need fast rehydration. Just figured I would share in case anyone could benefit from my mishap. Summer’s just around the corner. Stay cool. Feel free to share if you think it could help someone. I wish I had learned this a long time ago.

You probably need to read this – I know I did!!!

The whole world paused this morning.

Do you know why? Because an 8 year old’s tank was empty.

The boys had already started their school day at their desks and I was preparing to leave for work when I noticed my littlest standing in the bathroom wiping his face.

I paused at the door and asked if he was okay. He looked up with tears silently dripping and shook his head. When I questioned if something happened, again he shook his head.

So I sat on the side of the tub and pulled him in my lap. I told him sometimes our heart tanks feel empty and need to be refilled.

He cried into my chest and I held tight.

I asked if he could feel my love filling him up?

A nod, and tears stopped…

I waited a minute…

‘Has it reached your toes yet?’

He shook his head no…

‘Okay man. We will take as long as you need. Work doesn’t matter right now. School isn’t important either. This right here, is the most important thing today, okay? Filling you back to the top. Is that good?’

nods

One more minute…

‘Is your heart full of mamas love now?’

‘Yeah…’

looks in his eyes I see it shining in there, you’re full to the top, and you’re smiling!

You may not be 8 – you may be 28, 38, 48 or whatever- but ALL of us run on empty just like he did. His weekend was so busy and so full and his little soul was just dry!!!

We all have to pause, and take a moment to refill with the good things. Scripture, prayer, sunshine, worship, song, laughter, friends, hugs. Refill your empty, or you’ll find those emotions (tears, anger, snappy words) overflowing with no reason why.

Take a moment. Refill. It’s the most important part of your day!
☀️ 🌻
CREDIT: #momentswithmisty Misty Starr Whittington Robertson

BY 40, OUR MIDDLE FINGER IS AT HALF-MAST…

By 50, it’s full on UP.

By 60, both of those fingers are hoisted,
and not a single care is given any more.

I mean, we care about our family, our friends and our passions.
We care about the environment.
We care about equality and living in peace.
But we don’t care about ‘fitting in’ and we don’t care about what people think of us.
Not anymore.
Too many years were wasted on that.

We certainly don’t care to stay quiet, or bite our tongues,
we haven’t wasted all these life lessons to play dumb when the situation calls for our wisdom.

Neither do we care if our waistline is the acceptable size or if our thighs are toned and unblemished.
We have wrinkles, we have stretch marks, we have war wounds, warts and all.
And we are rocking each and every one of them in all their glory.

You see, there comes a time in every woman’s life where you realise that this is it.
This is the time to be alive.
To live without restriction or oppression.

To break free of the chains society binds us with and tear loose.
This is our time to be completely and totally who we were supposed to be all along.

The sooner you get there, the better.

Life waits for no woman.

Donna Ashworth

Art, Iris Apfel by Joya Cousin #joyacousinart Joya Cousin Portrait Painter

My husband isn’t my soulmate.

My best friend is.

She’s the number I dial. When my dad died. When I miscarried. When my babies were born. When my marriage needed work. When every relationship before it ended.

She is the text. The call. The comfortable silence. The total understanding. The definition of unconditional love.

Friendship can save your life, or make the bad parts sting just a little less.

She is the keeper of my history.

And the reason I know that women need women. Because women understand women.

To see more from Scarlett follow www.instagram.com/scarlettlongstreet

So if dads are allowed to just decide they’re allowed to quit being a parent, why can’t mums?

Why are mums so quick to be judged when there’s “dads” out there who literally do FUCK ALL.

I let my child spend the day with a family member, I’m a bad mum.
I let my child get dirty in the mud, I’m a bad mum.
I take my eyes off of her for 2 seconds whilst I’m doing something, I’m a bad mum.
I spend my money on anything other than my child, I’m a bad mum.

But, what about the men that decided they weren’t going to love, look after and protect the little human they gave 50% to make.
What about the men that decided partying, drugs and everything else is more important than helping pay for the little human you helped create.
No one ever sits there and talks down and judges about how men who decided said they wanted to be parents, and then left because it was “too hard”.

But then when is single mums are having a bad day and we’re struggling on a day where it’s “too hard”. People throw phrases at us like

“Was Your Choice To Have A Baby”
“You Didn’t Have To Keep It”
“I Bet You Wished You Changed Your Mind On Having This Baby”
“Why Have A Baby If You Knew The Dad Didnt Want It”.

I’m so tired of young, & single mums being judged for the times they snap, or cry or our stressed because
WE as single parents don’t get a BREAK.
WE as single parents don’t get time to BREATHE
We as single parents do EVERYTHING for our babies.

So maybe when you’re seeing one of us having a rough day, instead of looking, judging and whispering to your friends or family about us. Come over and say hello, come over and ask if we’re okay. Because sometimes just that two minutes of talking to another adult, or getting a cuddle, is the pressure relief we need.

The problem is,
We look for someone to grow old together,
While the secret is to find someone to stay a child with!
(Charles Bukowski)

What does LoVe mean to 4-8 year old kids? Slow down for a few minutes to read this…💕

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, ‘What does love mean?’ The answers they got were broader, deeper, and more profound than anyone could have ever imagined!

‘When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore… So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.’ Rebecca – age 8

‘When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.’ Billy – age 4

‘Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.’ Karl – age 5

‘Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.’ Chrissy – age 6

‘Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.’ Terri – age 4

‘Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.’ Danny – age 8

‘Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and just listen.’ Bobby – age 7 (Wow!)

‘If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.’ Nikka – age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka’s on this planet)

‘Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day.’ Noelle – age 7

‘Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.’ Tommy – age 6

‘During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.
He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.’ Cindy – age 8

‘My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.’ Clare – age 6

‘Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.’ Elaine – age 5

‘Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.’ Chris – age 7

‘Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.’ Mary Ann – age 4

‘I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.’ Lauren – age 4

‘When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.’ (what an image!) Karen – age 7

‘Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross…’ Mark – age 6

‘You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.’ Jessica – age 8

And the final one: The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, ‘Nothing, I just helped him cry.’
(this made me cry!)

Now, take a few seconds and post this for others to inspire and spread LoVe like butter!
And then be a child again today!💖😘💕

Good morning rise and shine ⛅️ This is bloody brilliant 🤣🤣…….. Being a woman isn’t always make-up, nails, hair and #sexy lingerie …..IT’S…..

🍑Pulling long hairs out of your arse crack after a shower.
🌊When you have a bath and your vagina swallows a gallon of water…. you’re walking around 20 mins after drying and dressing and feel like you’ve pissed your knickers 😱

🌵Shaving your fanny as smooth as a babies bottom & it’s so prickly the next day.
🩸Walking in front of your friend and saying “can you check me?” when you’re not entirely sure if #MotherNature has come to say hello again and she’s showing herself on your newly washed jeans.

☠️Pulling a dry tampon out. That was the day Satan REALLY outdid himself.

😖Ripping out a #pube on a #sanitary towel.
🪒Vaginal ingrown hairs.
🏃‍♀️The cum run.

🐰Trial and error every new vibrator out there to stop you chasing toxic boys 😂

💨That little #fart bubble that sometimes travels up your flaps and having to do that little wiggle to pop it.

🥴When they’ve got you in that angle during doggy and the air builds up in your fanny and you let out a monster fanny fart!
🍒Having to hold your titties when you run up the stairs without a bra on!
🥄Having to “scoop” the boobs back into your bra when they’re uncomfy!
👩🏻‍⚕️Having to have #smears, although it doesn’t hurt it’s just another worry for a women to have.

🔨The pure headache from having your hair up in a ponytail all day and the relief of taking it out and giving yourself a head rub at the back where the bobble was.
💥Sneezing when on your #period………
😭Crying for absolutely no reason… and then feeling stupid about it.
🚿Cupping shower water in between your #boobies and then unleashing the tsunami that’s gathered there!
🧻Bunching up a load of toilet roll and stuffing it in your knickers when there are no sanitary products at hand.
🎁Leaving your most creative hair paintings in the shower, as a priceless gift.
🍫Licking melted #chocolate off your boob…that you didn’t realise you’d dropped half an hour ago.
🍒Cupping your boobies… why? Because its comfortable!

The list goes on…what a species we are 🤣

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