I have been given the opportunity to run my first ever marathon in Berlin 2026 for Alcohol Change charity.

Alcohol Change is a charity that is close to my heart due to my own struggles in the past.

Within my family there has been a lot of issues with alcohol and I was naive in thinking it wouldn’t affect me.

When I turned 18, I would always go out weekly and drink a lot but who doesn’t? It would be a weekly occurrence up until early 20s where it would become a lot more frequent throughout the week.

As soon as lockdown hit I was 23 and that is where the alcohol abuse hit new heights. It was daily around 5-6 pints which is too many for anyone!

I then broke my ankle in 2021 and was stuck at home for the next 2 months without being able to work. This was during the Euro's and it's safe to say that I honestly do not remember most of it. It's all a bit of a blur. I was having crates of beer daily. When they were done, I was ordering more in to get delivered so that I could get blackout drunk every single day.

Once my ankle had healed, both my physical and mental health had deteriorated I was at my heaviest weight of 18st 10lb (118.7kg) and mentally just felt numb. It put a strain on both mine and my now wife's relationship as I didn't care about anything or anyone anymore and that is far from who I am as a person.

We had a lot of chats and I always just kept saying I will quit but never really meant it.

Fast forward to 2022 where I underwent my first knee operation. I had gotten very ill one morning after a night of drinking to the point that it scared me and must have finally shaken some sense into me and decided that this was it, this is when I finally stop drinking. I had said it loads of times so the belief from my partner wasn't there straight away.

I then had my knee operation and just told people that I was stopping for the moment as I didn't want to have a drink and then fall on it as I do believe that you get heavily judged for not drinking sometimes and I didn't want to put that pressure on myself so early.

I then had a fair few tests in quick succession as we went on holiday to Florence (my favourite holiday to date), watched a world cup and had Christmas all within the first few months of me quitting and I didn't even think about it.

As of today I am writing this after being sober for 3 years, 5 months and 27 days and I will never look back. I am the happiest I have ever been and by far the healthiest I have ever been as I have recently just hit the weight of 13 stone 8 (86.1kg) which is 1 pound off being a healthy weight for the first time since adulthood.

I think myself as one of the lucky ones who managed to knock it on the head quite early into my life before it became a big problem. I am now 28 years old, got married last year to my wife who constantly helped me throughout this whole journey and I am so lucky to have a good group of people around me.

A lot of my extended family have died from alcohol abuse throughout my life and I am so thankful that I saw the bigger picture before it was too late.

The opportunity of running my first ever marathon in Berlin (one of the majors!) for Alcohol Change is incredible. I am going to put in the most effort with my training and just take in every minute of it as I do genuinely believe that it is a privilege to do difficult things and I am going to make the absolute most of it.

If you can spare any money then that would be so greatly appreciated. If you or anyone you know is struggling with alcohol, just know that there is a way out and you will always feel better for it if you take the first few steps to quitting.

Many thanks for reading my story

Jamie