FA Cup finalist reveals he 'died twice' in four days during drug addiction battle

· Mirror

Ex-Millwall and Crystal Palace star Matt Lawrence helped the Lions to the 2004 FA Cup final against Manchester United but he has battled with drug addiction since then

Former Millwall captain Matt Lawrence has opened up on how he was nearly killed TWICE by a severe drug addiction.

Lawrence, now 52, was a popular figure at The Den during his playing career. The former defender made 261 appearances for the London side and captained them in the 2004 FA Cup final against Manchester United before later moving to Crystal Palace. Upon his retirement in 2015, Lawrence battled with a crippling drug addiction.

And he has now opened up on how he actually ended up technically dying after cocaine he had bought was laced with a fatal dose of fentanyl. He was resuscitated and taken to a New York hospital where he was treated, albeit three others died. The dealer responsible was sentenced to 30 years in prison for selling drugs resulting in death.

Speaking to The Mail, Lawrence said: “It's scary how I came to normalise everything. Normalised buying drugs, which is illegal. Normalised being an angry person because that's what drugs do. They make you snappy and argumentative.

> “I managed to normalise dying because I came out of hospital and didn't stop. I normalised dying twice in the space of four days.”

He added: “The first time, I remember going to the bathroom, doing the drugs and feeling a bit weird. I walked back to the bar past the person I was with and said I was going to get some air.

> “Everything else I know is from the accounts I've read, and that's that I walked halfway across Bleecker Street and passed out, stopped breathing and a Good Samaritan stopped the traffic. I didn't breathe again until the emergency services gave me a Narcan [emergency antidote which instantly reverses the effects of opioids] shot in the middle of the road.”

Despite that experience, Lawrence then came close to death once more as the same thing happened just days later. He was with a friend at the time, with his body going limp as the drugs took hold.

Lawrence said: “My muscles stopped working. I stopped breathing. I was given the last rites, it was that close. There is CCTV footage but I haven't been able to watch it. Again, luckily, this is the middle of Manhattan and the emergency services were there very quickly.

> “This time I do remember waking up with a needle in my arm. I assume that was the Narcan. None of this sounds particularly good out loud. I'm talking because I need the catharsis. This is me purging my soul in a way. I need the reality to hit. I need other people to read it.”

Lawrence is now sober, having taken the decision to get clean in August last year and has suggested that he feels like ‘an infinitely better human being sober’.

Recalling his experience in the FA Cup final with Millwall, Lawrence says: “The FA Cup final is a blur. I remember the semi-final vividly against Sunderland. The final though, I remember we lost 3-0, I remember Cristiano Ronaldo was very good and I remember Ruud van Nistelrooy kicked me in the testicles.

> “I trod on Van Nistelrooy's achilles when he was in a wall and he obviously clocked me doing that. Then they had a corner and I was facing him, sort of on the half-turn and looking at the ball, and he straight-up sprinted towards me and volleyed me in the testicles. He apologised after the game.”

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