I am an addict — and I refuse to stay silent anymore.

I’ve always wanted to do a skydive.

But I don’t want to do it just for me.

I’m doing it for the people we’ve lost.

And for the people who are still here — the ones who can recover.

I’m jumping to raise £10,000 for The Forward Trust.

£10,000 is a lot of money. I know that.

But there isn’t a price you can put on a person’s life.

Addiction is a disease — recognised by the medical world — yet stigma still treats it like a moral failure. And because of that stigma, people suffer in silence. People don’t ask for help. People die.

In the UK, thousands of people die every year from drug-related causes. Each one of them was someone’s child. Someone’s parent. Someone’s partner. Many of those deaths are preventable with the right support at the right time.

I know how dark addiction gets.

I know the shame.

I know the damage it does to families.

I know how small and hopeless it can make you feel.

Addiction doesn’t just affect the person using. It tears through families and ripples across communities. It keeps people awake at night wondering if they’ll get a phone call they can never undo.

Recovery is hard. It strips you back. It forces you to face everything. But it is possible.

And £10,000 could help put even one person into rehabilitation treatment. One person with a real chance. One family that doesn’t have to plan a funeral. One life that changes direction.

How can we say that isn’t worth it?

This skydive scares me. But not as much as the thought of doing nothing. Not as much as losing another person to something that is treatable.

I’m not jumping for adrenaline.

I’m jumping for awareness.

I’m jumping for compassion.

I’m jumping for the people who didn’t make it.

And for the ones who still can.

If you donate, you’re not just sponsoring a jump. You’re standing against stigma. You’re choosing hope over judgment. You’re helping prove that recovery is real — and that lives like mine are worth saving.

And they are.