My mother Mary tragically passed away on the 21st May 2020. She was 50. She died from chronic alcohol abuse. She was an alcoholic for 11 years.

Some of you may have known my mother personally, many of you wouldn't. It is a difficult thing to ask someone to donate to someone they never knew. However, alcohol abuse impacts millions every day. Most of you may know a family member who has had to deal with being an alcoholic, it is just a shame that my family member was the woman who was closest to me.

In 2018, there were 7,551 alcohol-specific deaths. This number will never be low enough to justify unless there are 0 deaths, and in 2020 my mother was added to this statistic. In 2018, it was the second highest to date. in addition, out of almost 600,000 dependent drinkers, 18% are receiving treatment. This is unacceptable. (All of these stats can be found here: https://alcoholchange.org.uk/alcohol-facts/fact-sheets/alcohol-statistics)

Why do alcoholics receive such little support? First of all, it is still highly stigmatised in society. Functioning alcoholics such as my mum will not be taken seriously until it is too late, until they're in intensive care fighting for their life, until their liver permanently scars, and until they take their last breath. This is unacceptable.

The non functioning alcoholics may be homeless, like my mum was for the last 3 months of her life, and unable to get appropriate support because of their addiction. They may be unable to secure council housing as they are not seen to be as 'at risk'. All of these factors can ensure that their likelihood of death only increases. With all the challenges alcoholics face, it is no surprise that quitting only becomes harder with time.

This is where I want to ask for your sympathy and support. I've never done one of these before, but I believe this is too important of an issue to ignore. Please message me if you want to know more about my mother's personal fight with alcohol, and please either consider donating or sharing this.

By fundraising for the charity Alcohol Change UK, I want to help prevent deaths such as my mothers, as they can be preventable, with the right support. By donating, you will be helping a charitable cause, and doing it in Mary's name.

Although many of you didn't know Mary, you will all have a Mary in your life, and it is important to ensure they don't end up how my mum did.

I encourage you to donate, as little or as much as you want, to give people such as my mum the right support, to ensure that these tragic early deaths can be avoided.

Thank you for reading this.