Good Samaritan saves life of overdosed man

Marlon BaCote was never hoping to save someone’s life.

But when he came across a man who’d overdosedin Newport News, he was ready.

A Newport News native, BaCote grew up on Emma Drive. He returned Thursday to visit an old neighbor.

When he pulled onto his old street, a man and woman were standing in the middle of the street, waving their arms. BaCote stopped his car, and they told him another man had overdosed in a car.

Everything BaCote knew kicked into gear. BaCote’s seen drug addiction from both sides of the spectrum, he said — he overcame addiction and became a peer recovery specialist in Virginia.

He’d also been through the REVIVE program through the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, which “provides training to professionals stakeholders and others on how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose emergency with the administration of naloxone,” the website states.

He checked the man’s airway, did three chest compressions, placed a mouth guard over his mouth and gave two breaths, he said. Then, he gave the man naloxone — an over-the-counter drug used to treat overdoses.

The man was taken to the hospital and is in stable condition, BaCote said.

BaCote insists he’s no hero.

“God had me in the right place at the right time, there was nothing on my own,” BaCote said.

Instead, he wants to highlight the family members of people suffering with addiction. He said he’s proud of the first responders, and the lawmakers helping combat the opioid epidemic sweeping the state and country.

His message: “Don’t give up hope, because you never know what a changed life could be until it happens.”

BaCote is getting his masters in addiction counseling at Liberty University. He also is a substance abuse counselor under supervision at Monarch Clinical and Consulting.

A Revive class is scheduled later this summer in Hampton. The class will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Aug. 10 at 300 Medical Drive, in the seminar room.

For more information on REVIVE, click here or call (757) 788-0406 to register for the class.