A man who was put into care aged 15 before becoming homeless in his 20s, feeling the cold in his “bones” and contemplating suicide, has transformed his life with ice skating and said he “would be dead” if it were not for charitable help that introduced him to the sport and gave his life “purpose”. Brad Gigg, 26, said his start in life was “pretty rocky” after he lived in an “abusive” home from the age of eight.
He was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at the age of 13 – a condition which affects people’s behaviour – and struggled to “accept boundaries” and “follow rules”, which meant he was “nigh-on uncontrollable”. He said he was excluded from school and started going out more, “drinking at all hours”, smoking weed, getting into fights, and being “beaten up”, until one day, aged 15, he said he came home and saw his belongings had been left at the front door.
At this point, Brad, who lives in Oxford, said he felt he had “nothing”, and he spent the following two and a half years with different families in care. He lived in various properties after leaving the care system, but since he was struggling with his mental health and living a life of “soulless isolation”, he stopped looking for jobs, could not afford his rent, and became homeless aged 23.
