We all feel like dying after a night on the juice but for 19-year-old Gemma* it almost became a reality.

  “Alcohol entered my life when I was in high school. I found that drinking was just an easy way for me to fit in to my social circle.

  “However, as my parents were both non-drinkers I never had any concept of drinking in moderation.
   “I mainly knew what I had heard from my grandfather, who was a teetotaling Methodist minister. According to him, consuming even a drop of alcohol was sinful.

  “It never stopped me though. Throughout my teens I reacted to that hard-line approach by drinking frequently without moderation and it just got worse as I entered university in my first year.”
  At the beginning of her first semester last year, Gemma’s drinking slowly spiralled out of control.
   “There were times when I would buy a coke bottle, spill half the drink out and fill the rest of it up with Vodka. Then I would take that bottle into a lecture and just start drinking it at the back of the room. Of course I never got caught as it just looked like your average coke bottle.”
  But it wasn’t until her roommate was doing the recycling one afternoon that she realised the extent of her drink problem.

  “I came home after a lecture and found Rob lining up a stack of empty wine bottles on our kitchen table. He just looked at me in disgust and told me to count up the number of bottles beside him. There were 18 in total and according to Rob, 16 of them had been drunk by me – all within a space of a week.
  “I would never have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes; I mean I was drinking myself to death and yet was doing nothing to prevent it from happening.
  “My roommates were all concerned and advised me to do something about my addiction before it got even more out of hand.”
  After being confronted with the reality of her drinking Gemma decided that cutting back on alcohol would be the easy solution to solving her addiction problem.
  “I tried to convince myself that I had enough will power in me to cut back or stop drinking entirely if I wanted to – I mean how hard could it really be?”
  She was soon put to the test when she was invited to a friend’s booze-fuelled birthday party at a club in West London.
  “For my mate’s 21st a bunch of us went out to celebrate at a club. I only had one shot while I was there and committed myself to not drink anymore the whole night.
  “However, straight after we went to a nearby bar where friends offered to buy rounds. I told myself that one more drink was not going to do me any harm.” 
  But it wasn’t long before Gemma’s two drinks turned into four and then those four turned into six without her even realising.
  “I just lost any awareness over the amount I was drinking. At that point of the night all of us were completely shit-faced and so we called up a taxi to take us home. But midway into our journey the driver kicked us out of the car when one of my friends threw up on the backseat." 

   “We then had to walk to the nearest bus stop which was right beside a bridge. While waiting for the bus we thought it would be really funny to take pictures of ourselves completely plastered, so that we could post them on Facebook later.”
  However, while taking photos of herself and her friends, Gemma made a dangerous slip, one that nearly proved costly.
  “I stood on top of the ledge of the bridge. Once I caught my balance I snatched the camera off my friend and took pictures of everyone.
   “It was when I started taking snaps of myself that I accidentally lost my balance and tipped over the other side of the bridge. Lucky I managed to grab hold of the railings to stop me from falling straight down into the river below.
  “My friends just started panicking and were shouting at me to pull myself up towards them.
  “I just could not think, my arms were shaking, my head was aching, my stomach was in knots and all I wanted to do was throw up. I felt so weak and could feel my body giving up on me. For the whole time I was holding on, my mind was telling me to let go – and I often wonder if I would still be here if I had.”
  Luckily, a passer-by came just in time to help pull Gemma up to safety as she held on to life.
  “He grabbed hold of both my arms and managed to lift me over to the safe side of the bridge. The rest of that night is a complete blur to me. Even to this day I cannot remember what my rescuer looks like. And worst of all is that I passed out before I could even thank him for saving my life.”
  Gemma was soon taken to hospital where doctors referred her to a specially-trained counsellor to help her combat her drinking addiction.
  “After I left hospital I decided to go back home to North London to see my parents. They were completely distraught by what had happened and it was not long before they started to lecture me about the stupidity of my drunken behaviour.
  “I sat there and just nodded my head as my dad yelled at me, but it wasn’t until I saw my mum crying behind him that I realised just how much pain and grief I had put them and my family through.
  “After my dad had said his peace, my mum came towards me and gave me a big hug telling me how she could not bear the thought of losing me to alcohol. She then reassured me that her and my dad would do whatever they could to get me on to the road of recovery.”
  Soon after the confrontation with her parents Gemma went to see a counsellor to discuss how to combat her alcohol addiction, as doctors had advised her at the hospital.
  “My parents made sure that I saw my counsellor regularly and that I also attended an Alcoholics Anonymous group that was held at my local GP’s surgery every fortnight.
  “At first I really hated going to the AA meetings as everyone else there was so much older than me, but the further I got into the programme, the easier it got for me to open up about my addiction. In fact I found it to be quite cathartic to just openly discuss my alcohol issues.
  “Sometimes my Dad would even come with me and sit in at the meetings where we would listen to everyone else’s bad experiences.”
  Gemma spent the best part of her summer holidays attending the support group where she began her road to sobriety with much success.
  However, a new year of University was fast approaching and she would have to decide whether to return to studying or continue battling her alcohol addiction at home.
  “My parents were against me going back to live at University as they felt that I would not be able to remain sober on my own. But I felt it was important in making a fresh start, not only at University but also in my life.
  “My first week back at University was great. I spent the whole time just catching up with my roommates who were all so glad that I finally sought the help for my addiction.
  “They were also very supportive, like my parents, by chilling in the flat with me during fresher’s week instead of going out and partying – which was a first for them.”
  However, only a couple of weeks back into her first semester earlier this year, temptation proved to be too much for Gemma as she soon fell back into her old drinking ways.
  “Once again I just seemed to be losing all awareness of the amount of alcohol I was drinking whenever I was out with my mates.
 
  “Having stayed sober for almost found it difficult to resist it when I was in company of mates who would all go straight to the SU bar after their lectures were over.
  “But although falling of the band wagon was a huge blow for me, the thought of telling my parents that I had failed in my effort to stay sober was even worse.
  “I just hated knowing the fact that they were right all along – I was not strong enough to get through this addiction on my own.
  “This was one of the reasons I dreaded the thought of going back
home to seek help. However, my
  roommates were great in helping me realise that it was what  needed to if I wanted to get better.” After much persuasion, Gemma soon saw herself packing her belongings and heading  back home to once more seek help in sobering up.
  “When I returned, both my parents were so supportive and they immediately got me back on track to combating my addiction.
  “Right now I have no intention of coming back to University until I feel that I have this addiction under full control. I know that if I come back before I am ready to then I will probably end up drinking myself to death.
  “I am just so thankful to have a great set of parents who are helping  me through this, and it is because of them that I want to fight for my life and not have it ruined by something as meaningless as alcohol.”