Surviving an ecstasy-fueled brush with death

There is more to ecstasy than the rash of deaths reported recently in the news.

Experts in the medical profession point to the stories of those who took the drug only to survive.

At the age of 19, Kelly Kirouac was one such example.  University of Manitoba liver specialist, Dr. Kelly Kaita, tells the Calgary Sun Kirouac's first experiment with the drug back in 1999 destroyed 80 per cent of the young man's liver, resulting in a transplant that was completed just in time.  Dr. Kaita says without the transplant, Kirouac would have died.

Dr. Mark Yarema, an emergency room doctor and the Medical Director with the Poison and Drug Information Service, says the ratio of people who survive a close call with ecstasy -- compared to those who die -- is two or three to one.

Since mid-December between 20 and 25 people have been hospitalized for suspicion of ingesting PMMA-laced ecstasy.