A YOUNG father who cheated death after he was hit by a double decker bus at the age of seven has told how the shock of the accident left him addicted to alcohol in later years.
At the height of his addiction, Frazer Sweeney was drinking up to five bottles of Buckfast Tonic Wine a day to cope with the trauma of a life-threatening head injury which damaged his motor skills and left him unable to play the sports he loved.
Mr Sweeney was playing football with his friends in Glasgow 18 years ago when the ball rolled onto the street. As he chased after it, he was struck by a bus.
Now 25, he said: “My head was split open like a melon. They said I was lucky to be alive but at the time I wasn’t so sure.
“I was an active kid, I used to go to karate and play football, but after the accident my motor skills were affected and I struggled to play sport.
“I was devastated because sport was my world. Sometimes I just wished I’d died because it would have been easier than dealing with the reality.”
As he grew older, he struggled to cope with the depression brought on by his injury and turned to alcohol.
“After the accident I put on a brave face and tried to get on with things," said Mr Sweeney. "But I became increasingly isolated and ended up getting in with the wrong crowd when I was a teenager, just because I wanted somewhere I could belong.
“They introduced me to alcohol and drugs and life started to go downhill.”
Following suicide attempts, Mr Sweeney was referred for a mental health assessment and accessed treatment which helped him beat his alcohol addiction and move on from the accident.
Now a father-of-two and alcohol-free for four years, he is championing the work of charity Fixers which encourages young people to seek help for depression and mental illness instead of turning to drink.
He said: “I hope that my boy never has to go through what I did, but I’d like to think that if he did have an obstacle to overcome, Fixers would be around to guide him through it.”
www.fixers.org.uk
You can view Frazer Sweeney's film about his experience, here:
https://youtu.be/bwU6g4jjDBg
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