This College Student’s Harrowing Essay About Binge Drinking Is Going Viral

Doctors thought Hanna Lottritz was brain dead when she arrived at the Renown Regional Medical Center, Nevada, last summer with a blood alcohol level at five times over the legal driving limit.

Appalled by what happened to her, the journalism student from the University of Nevada shared her harrowing experience on her blog as a stark warning of the perils of binge drinking. Her Jan. 6 post soon went viral, garnering Lottritz 350,000 page views over the last few days, USA Today reports.

Lottritz penned the post on her 21st birthday, when she planned to have “a glass of wine with my closest friends and family” instead of downing shots. “I am writing this because I didn’t realize the importance of drinking responsibly until I was waking up from a coma,” she wrote.

Lorritz landed in the hospital after chugging whiskey and then collapsing after attending a concert at a Nevada music festival. By the time she arrived in the hospital, she wasn’t breathing, and it took her 24 hours to regain consciousness.

“From my hospital bed in the Intensive Care Unit, my eyes were opened to the seriousness of being irresponsible with alcohol,” Lottritz wrote.