SHARON Aitken will never forget the night she nearly lost her teenage son to the notorious Mortal Kombat ecstasy tablets.

The 16-year-old took a pill at a party in Coatbridge on March 8 and spent the next five days in a medically- induced coma.

Doctors told Sharon that he may die but, against the odds, Jack pulled through and his mum hopes her traumatic experience will serve as a warning to others.

She was at home in Airdrie on the night of the party when she got a call from Jack's panicked friends.

"They told me he was lying in the street, really drunk and I should come and get him," she said.

"I rushed over to the house and he was in the corner of a room in his boxer shorts and people were manhandling him and trying to calm him down. It was disturbing.

"They had already put him in a cold bath, because he was overheating. It probably saved his life.

"I asked them what he had taken, because I knew it couldn't be drink. They admitted he had taken ecstasy. They said it was a Mortal Kombat pill."

The youngsters helped Sharon carry Jack to her car and she drove him to Monklands Hospital.

She said: "He was like a demon possessed. He was biting himself, biting me. He was like something out of a horror movie, doing flips in the back of the car.

"It was horrible. I didn't know my son and he didn't know me."

As doctors fought to save his life, Sharon was left to pace the hospital corridors, hoping against hope that her son would survive.

She said: "They told me he had taken a more severe reaction to the drug.

"They asked me to go out of the room and it dawned on me that this was really, really serious.

"His body was overheating. His heart rate and his blood pressure were too high. They had to shut it all down.

"He was in a coma for five days and in hospital for ten. The first couple of days I was just numb. It was surreal.

"His whole life flashed in front of my eyes - when he was a wee boy, the times we'd spent together."

Fighting back tears, she added: "It was the worst feeling in the world, seeing him lying there. We didn't know if he was going to come around.

"Every morning they would try. There were times when I didn't know if he would live."

In February, schoolgirl Regane MacColl collapsed and died after taking drugs at a Glasgow nightclub.

Police linked the death of the 17-year-old, from Duntocher, to an ecstasy-like "Mortal Kombat" tablet.

Sharon said: "I can't imagine how Regane's mum and dad feel. I can cope with what happened to my son because I still have him. He's a very lucky boy.

"But I recognise that this really needs to be highlighted. It worries me sick.

"I've got a daughter of 21 and my son, 16. I've also got a grandson now.

"What kind of world has he come into? It scares me.

"I'm a social worker, I'm in amongst it on a daily basis, but when it's your own family it's completely different.

"My son is turning into a nice young man. It's really nice to watch.

"He's got a girlfriend now so maybe that's got something to do with it. There's a fair change in him.

"But it could have been so different and I hope that other young people will remember what happened to him and think twice before they take drugs."