ALLEGAN, Mich. – Allen Wells lives in fear that he will fall asleep and never wake up.

After a night of partying in February that left him in a three-week coma, death is not an unrealistic concern.

It was about 6 a.m. on Feb. 23 when Wells and his friend decided to have another drink.

The friend grabbed a bottle of Canadian Mist from his car. But what neither men knew was that someone had put a caustic substance, possibly drain cleaner, in the bottle.

“After I took a drink and told him what was going on, he took a drink and spit it out,” said Wells. “That’s when I knew I was in trouble.”

Wells was rushed to Bronson Methodist Hospital, where doctors induced him into a coma and removed his stomach and most of his esophagus to save his life.

The case remains under investigation by the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety to determine whether someone intended to harm Wells or if it was merely an accident.

Police said drain cleaners are known ingredients for making methamphetamine. Wells said some of his friends were using meth that night but that he was not.

Wells said the party started at 8 p.m. but by the early morning hours he’d only had about six beers when he and his friend decided to drink whiskey.

As soon as he took a swig, Wells said, people were trying to figure out “what the hell is going on with this whiskey.”

“It burned immediately when I realized it wasn’t whiskey,” Wells said. “It was hot. Very hot.”

He started drinking milk to make himself vomit but stopped when a poison control worker told his girlfriend not to have him drink anything.

“I thought I was dying,” Wells said. “I didn’t know if I was going to quit breathing or not before I got to the hospital.”

When Wells woke up from the coma three weeks later, he thought, “Wow. I’m alive.”

Now, he lives in fear that he could die in his sleep, get an infection or die from malnutrition.

“I think he tries to stay awake as long as he can,” said Dawn Wells, his mother, with whom he now lives.

He doesn’t know what could happen to him or what he’ll face in the time ahead. In six months, Wells faces another surgery in which doctors will try to attach his small intestine to what remains of his esophagus.

“He panics bad,” Dawn Wells said. “He started having panic attacks as soon as he woke up (from the coma).”

Allen Wells has a hole in his neck that gurgles every time he swallows and a feeding tube in his intestines that runs 24 hours a day. His medications are crushed and put in the tube as well as protein powder.

“I’ve lost 30 pounds so far,” Wells said. He used to weigh 210 pounds and now he weighs 172.

Wells was planning the day after the party to drive to Tennessee where he had been working as a roofer. He planned to spend a month working in Tennessee before returning home to Allegan.

Now he’s living with his mother, sleeping in her living room while friends and family build a room for him in her house.

Wells doesn’t have health insurance but his mother isn’t worrying about the $325,000 hospital stay bill just yet. She’s just concerned about making sure he gets the care he needs.

A fund has been set up at National City Bank for Wells. The account is under the name Kellie Greene, a cousin of Wells.

Wells’ family said they are grateful to the many people who have offered their support and to the companies that have donated supplies.