In light of recent spike, K2 overdose survivor shares his story

COON RAPIDS, Minn. (KMSP) - Kyle Donovan admits he turned to K2 a few years ago because he thought it would help him pass a drug test.

Now, with over 100 overdoses reported by the Hennepin County Medical Center in the past week alone, the Coon Rapids man is sharing his story so other people don't have to go through what he did.

"[It was] horrifying. Death defying," Donovan said. "I would never touch it again." 

In three years, Kyle Donovan estimates he spent $30,000 on synthetic marijuana. But in the end, the drug also known as K2 nearly cost him much more than money.

Donovan says he was smoking a brand of K2 called "Pure Evil" at a friend’s house 4 years ago, when the drug lived up to its name.

"It’s been the worst experience I've ever had," he said. "Worst experience I've had in my whole life."

He started having a seizure and throwing up blood, waking up five days later strapped to a hospital bed.

"When I woke up, I felt lost," he said. "I woke up to family around me. Everyone was just crying and praying for me."

It turned out Donovan had five grand mal seizures after he got to the hospital and had to be put in a medically induced coma until all the drugs were out of his system.

He also said his kidneys stopped working and doctors worried he would have to be on dialysis for the rest of his life--that is if he survived.

"I felt like I got hit by a semi-truck after my seizures," Donovan said. "I had to have physical therapy for a day afterwards because my legs were so weak I couldn't even walk."

He still takes medication twice a day to prevent the seizures from coming back.

But he wants to stop others from learning the hard way how dangerous K2 can be.

"Think twice," he said. "Think about your family. You can very easily die from it. It’s not something to mess around with."

The Hennepin County Sheriff does say there haven't been any deaths due to the spike in overdoses, but does say the trend is cause for concern.