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17th July 2025
10:04am BST
He had been on holiday in Spain
A teenager from Essex has died after taking drugs in a Spanish nightclub while on a ‘lads' holiday.’
The family of 18-year-old Ryan Long — who was hoping to pursue a career as a footballer and played at the Ben Bradford Goalkeeping Academy — have spoken out for the first time since their son tragically passed away last Tuesday (8 July).
Ryan’s dad, Adrian, said: "Their cases were in the room and he didn’t even unpack – they went straight out, excited to be on their first lads’ holiday on their own.
"They visited a few bars before ending up at the club, and he didn’t seem quite right there. Towards the end of the night, he got in a cab to go back to the apartments with his friends."
His mum Angela says it was at this point that Ryan began to show serious signs of a reaction.
She said: “His friends put him in the recovery position and phoned an ambulance – his friend was doing the respirator while paramedics worked on him.”
Ryan’s friends then alerted Angela leading her to assume he had gone into anaphylaxis from his nut allergy, or that he had even been spiked.
But they now believe the deadly reaction was a result of Ryan taking the Class-A drug ecstasy.
She added: "We’ve sat our boys down many a time and told them not to take drugs. I just can’t get my head around it. Not in a million years did I ever think he would do anything like this."
It was days before Angela and Adrian Long could travel to Spain by which time his situation had developed from serious to deadly.
They added: “When we got there, they said he wouldn’t survive the operation. More scans had revealed he had septic shock and a brain haemorrhage.”
They were with him at the moment he passed away on July 8th.
His family are now hoping to use Ryan’s tragic story to remind other young people of the dangers of using recreational drugs.
Adrian said: “Youngsters think they’re invincible, but we’re never going to forget this. You don’t know what’s there or what people are trying to give you.
“You can drum it into them many times, but hopefully people will think twice. It is the height of the season now, and everyone will be going out there.
“In that environment, they’re away from home, the adrenaline is going, and they just don’t think.”
A GoFundMe page has been launched in Ryan’s memory in hopes of raising money to go towards a funeral service next month.
