Sammy lost her mum when she was far too young, your fundraising will help people like Sammy. At 17, Samantha lived a double life as a carer for her alcohol-dependent Mum and siblings and as a college student, but she couldn't sustain this for very long and her life began to unravel.

“Looking back at my life, alcohol was always there, playing a role. Often a silent role, sometimes a violent one and eventually the main character.

In October 2018 I lost my mum to stage four liver disease, because of a long battle with alcohol misuse. I have flashbacks to early childhood memories of “sleepy mummy” and at the time could not quite understand it. As I got older, I started to associate her mood changes to the red liquid and the clanging of bottles together in shopping bags.

It was probably not until I was in college that I understood the full effects of being a child of an alcoholic. I felt like I was leading a double life. The one at college that was trying to maintain friendships and relationships and the one at home were the roles were reversed, and I was the parent. My focus became protecting my siblings and keeping mum safe. That saying “You don’t know what goes on behind closed doors” really was a face I had to play. 

When my mum died my relationship with alcohol completely changed. A voice in my head said, “I will never touch it again”. Something that had consumed most of my mum’s life, and mine, was the reason she was no longer here. In those first few months after she died, the thought of alcohol made me very angry – the harsh reality was that it was a poison and it had killed someone."

In her mum’s memory Sammy helps us to raise funds and awareness as a community champion to help others do the same. The money you raise through your Dry January® will help to fund our vital work to reduce alcohol harm in the UK, helping change and save the lives of people like Sammy’s mum and their families and loved ones. Together, we can make a difference.