A heartbroken mum has revealed a post mortem has shown her son died from brain damage after taking a €3 bag of legal highs.
Letterkenny man Jimmy Guichard died at his father’s home after suffering a massive heart-attack which led to a brain bleed.
The results of his post-mortem which were released yesterday has shown the 20 year old former St Eunan’s hurler had no alcohol or any other illegal drugs in his system when he died on October 3rd.
Last night his distraught mum Karen told Donegal Daily how nobody knows what exactly is in legal highs.
“The problem with legal highs is that nobody knows exactly what is in them or what reaction they will have on people.
“I certainly would not condone cannabis or any drug use but if Jimmy had taken those drugs then at least we would have known what was in them and he would have been here today.
“The post mortem results show that he didn’t have any illegal substances in his body – not even a drop of alcohol.
“These legal highs caused Jimmy’s blood pressure to rise rapidly which led to a massive heart attack which caused his brain damage.
“A bag of something worth just €3 killed my son,” she said.
Jimmy had moved to London to look after his dad who is suffering from cancer.
Karen revealed she received even more bad news when she was told she could not donate her son’s organs to allow other people have the chance to live.
“When I heard Jimmy was unconscious I made the decision to donate his organs so something could come of his needless death.
“But the coroner said he simply could not allow it because of the manner in which Jimmy died.
“The people who made these legal highs not only robbed me of Jimmy but they also robbed other people of the chance to live,” said Karen.
A memorial service for Jimmy will be held at St Eunan’s Cathedral on Sunday next and a celebration of his life will then take place at the Green Room in Voodoo afterwards.