Road to Recovery

Daniel has had a liver transplant and is still engaged in the program even though he is ill. Through working with the NHS, Growing Rooms, and St. Georges Crypt, he’s well on the road to not only physical recovery health-wise but also abstinent-based recovery.

I had a good upbringing, but when I got to sixteen, I didn’t know what to do with my life. I started hanging around with bad people, smoking weed, and as I got older, I started doing heavier stuff. 

Daniel also developed a drinking dependency from a very young age, by age twenty, he was drinking heavily: 

I just liked the way it made me feel when I was drunk.

He has had a few jobs in his time, working in warehouses and restaurants but struggled to hold down any job for long. 

Sometimes I would drink before going to work. I even started resenting work because it got in the way of my drinking. Most times, I wouldn’t turn up for work, I’d stay home turn off my phone and get drunk. 

It got progressively worse and eventually, he lost his job. He started breaking many promises and he couldn’t see life without alcohol. His family was disappointed and angry with him and stopped all contact with him. Daniel hit rock bottom and was resigned to a life of alcoholism.

I remember one day, just sitting in my flat, feeling so empty and thinking that there was no point going on. That is when I realised that something was wrong, something had to change drastically for me to be able to successfully stop drinking. 

By this time Daniel had developed liver Cirrhosis. He got in touch with an alcohol & drug support agency. He went into rehab but three days into it fell ill and ended up in the hospital. A vein leading to my stomach had burst and he lost a lot of blood. The hospital stabilised him and he was able to return to rehab. 

He was then referred to Growing Rooms but fell ill a few days before starting. 

I panicked thinking they wouldn’t be able to take me in and that if they did, I wouldn’t be able to complete the program because I had found out that I had a liver failure (Decompensated cirrhosis) and needed a liver transplant. 

I felt that it would be unfair to take away a space that someone else could have had, but the staff at Growing Rooms assured me that we would be able to find a way to make it work. 

Thus, Daniel embarked on his recovery journey; he found it to be hard going at first but the Growing Rooms staff gave him support and a safe place to work on himself. He got involved in group sessions, learning about different behaviours and characteristics which helped him to reflect and evaluate his choices. 

He has now had a liver transplant and the hospital is happy with his progress. His relationship with his family and his children has improved.

They are happy, they see the improvements that I have made, and they say I’ve become kinder and more considerate. I see my kids every two weeks now.

Daniel is looking forward to life in general now and the possibilities out there. He is looking forward to completing the programme. 

I volunteer at the Pudsey Charity shop. I love it there. I could be having a bad day or my head could be all over the place, but when I get to work, I find peace, I have something to do, I love the people I work with, I love helping the customers. 

Before rehab, Daniel had mixed emotions about Christmas. On the one hand, he hated it because he never used to have any money to get presents for the kids, ending up in debt. On the other hand, he loved it because his dad would give him a hundred pounds for Christmas. 

I would take the money, and as soon as I left my dad’s place, I’d head straight to the off-license. That is what Christmas was for me; there were bits that I enjoyed because I was getting stuff; I was so self-centered I could not see the beauty of it; I couldn’t see how happy everyone else was; it was always about me. 

I’m on a journey, moving forward, doing the right things, and making the right decisions. I am looking forward to Christmas this year, having dinner with the lads here at Growing Room and having a laugh. These guys here have become like a family to me.

I will be part of Christmas this year; I look forward to being sober and seeing the kids open up their presents and witnessing the beauty of it, to be there for them without thinking about my next pint. Yes, I think it will be an excellent Christmas. 

After Growing Rooms, Daniels wants to get a full-time job and a place of his own. 

I have some money put aside to do it up and build it into a home.