A former alcoholic has described how he finally kicked his addiction of nearly two decades after coming home to find his wife had put their house up for sale. James Hoare, 36, first began using drink as a coping mechanism in his teens after the death of a close relative.
His habit then got worse after his first marriage fell apart and, at his lowest ebb, he was downing three bottles of wine and up to 10 cans of beer a day. Even after finding love again with the woman who'd go on to become his second wife, the former social care assistant from Barry still refused to quit.
Instead, the dad-of-three would find new ways of getting wasted by hiding his drinks stash in the garage and downing it behind his family's back. As a result, he'd eventually end up hospitalised having smashed in all his teeth whilst cycling home from the pub drunk one night.
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"Alcohol first started becoming an issue when my gran Thelma passed away on my 17th birthday," he said. "Whereas before I'd drink to socialise, now I was drinking to cope.
"We were extremely close, gran and I - she was the one I'd always confide in and she'd give me her unconditional love. That was my first real experience of losing someone that close."
Then, after meeting a girl, getting married and having children together, James found himself going through a difficult separation. "Divorcing in your twenties is really hard and I ended up moving back in with my parents.
"I felt like a total failure and that I'd taken a major step back." As a result, James decided to return to the family-owned flat in Penarth where he'd previously lived with his ex-wife.
"That was an even bigger mistake because all I wanted to do was go out all the time," he added. "Life became one big party and booze was now my best friend."
One salvation would come in the form of Rachel, a 37-year-old admin worker with whom he'd remarry. Together now for a decade, James credited her with sticking by him despite having seen him at his very worst.
"I was a functioning alcoholic and thought that as long as I could hide it there was no need for me to change. I'd stash booze in the garage and drink it when no one was looking," he said.
"Then, one night, Rach and I had an argument and I cycled off to the pub and got hammered, after which I tried to peddle back home.
"I had to swerve to avoid a car and went over the handlebars. I don't remember anything else but one of the medics who took me to hospital in the ambulance said I'd hit the kerb with my face and smashed in all my teeth.
"Now, you'd think that would be enough to make most people stop. But, nope, not me."
James added at his 'moment of clarity' - as alcoholics tend to call it - would come a while later. "I came home one day to find a For Sale sign on the lawn and Rach packing her bags upstairs.
"Her parents were waiting in the car outside and she was off. We'd built that house together just a few years before.
"But here I was on my own again. I quickly realised if I didn't do something soon my life would be over."
Having tried Alcoholics Anonymous - "It wasn't for me," he admitted - James finally discovered The Living Room, a community-based recovery centre in Cardiff.
"I found myself surrounded with people who'd been in detox for anything from a few months to several years," he said. "Talking with them made me realise how I'm a slave to alcohol, how just one drink can lead to a four day binge.
"And I never drank a drop after that." Now a DJ with his own entertainment company that caters weddings, festivals and corporate events, James hopes his struggle will inspire other addicts.
"You can recover, regain control and get your life back, I'm proof of that," he said. "Like me, lots of people drink as a coping mechanism and, God knows, there's a lot to have to cope with out there right now - what with times being hard and the cost of living so high.
"So if my story can help just one other person I'll be really happy." Click here to follow James' journey on Instagram.
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