Nottingham continues to have some of the highest levels of problem drinking in the UK – with the death rate for chronic liver disease nearly double the national average, and tens of thousands of people in the city struggling to control their intake.
As part of Alcoholics Awareness month, Notts TV News has exclusive interviews with Nottingham people battling addiction. All identities have had to be concealed and names changed. Here Frank, a widower, tells his story to Sharon Walia.
“I‘d always been a happy family man; I had an 11 year old daughter at the time and a wonderful partner, we weren’t married but we had been together for years.
“One evening, during part of our usual routine, she walked into the living room after having done the sandwiches for the next day and said ‘I feel…’ and collapsed on the floor.
“I called an ambulance and on the way to the hospital, she stopped breathing, and that’s probably when she died.
“We got to the hospital, they had resuscitated her by this time, she went for a brain scan and they said that she was brain dead, at which point they said we’ve now got to wait 12 hours before doing some more tests.
“They did the tests which proved she was brain dead and a lot of things in between, then they asked me permission to switch off the life support.
“I gave that permission and afterwards, I went out and the only thing I could think of was getting drunk.
“A few days after that, there was something in the papers about someone who had been in a coma for 10 years and come out of it.
“My mind suddenly turned round and said I’ve killed her.
“From that moment on, every evening I was drinking; it became my way of emotionally blacking out what had happened.
“Over time, it got worse and worse, so much so that when I was in the office, at midday I would go out and get my stash for the evening.
“I was only drinking lager but probably having 140 units per week.
“I was away from work at one point, around 6,000 miles away from home and I collapsed in a heap in a hotel room thinking I can’t do this anymore.
“As far as I was concerned, going to AA meant that I really hit bottom.
“For me, I had to cut off from all of my other drinking buddies and I needed to be around other people.
“I found new friends in AA and got a sponsor and I started working the 12 step programme.
“I then got my daughter back for a start, and she said when she came out ‘I’ve finally got my dad back.'”
To contact Alcoholics Anonymous in Nottinghamshire call 0115 941 7100 or visit the organisation’s website.
Specialist support for those struggling with alcohol is also available from a range of other local organisations including Recovery in Nottingham and APAS.
