A GREENOCK man who came within hours of losing his life due to alcohol addiction has spoken of how his brush with death sparked his journey to recovery.

Fraser Mitchell says he almost lost everything in a 38-year battle with alcoholism which started when he was just 12 years old.

The 56-year-old has now been sober for six and half years, and has bravely shared his story as part of the Telegraph's focus on recovery this month to show others struggling with addiction that there can be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Over the course of his addiction, Fraser suffered a heart attack, two instances of liver failure, developed osteoarthritis in his hips, and had to have large volumes of fluid drained from his abdomen.

(Image: George Munro)

Then, six and a half years ago, he was taken to hospital with severe internal bleeding.

He said: “I started noticing it but I never went to the hospital because I knew they would tell me to stop drinking and give me a hard time.

“I kept going until I started feeling really unwell. I was completely fatigued and couldn’t put one foot in front of the other.

“My dad took me to Inverclyde Royal. They began treating me for a heart attack, but they took bloods, then came back and said I had no blood in my system.

“I was in ICU overnight and then I got moved into high dependency for three days.”

Fraser told the Telegraph he had spent the years leading up to his near-death experience locked in a cycle of drinking.  

He said: “For about seven or eight years solid all I did was just sit every morning, go and get my carry out and then come back.

"When I was 46, which was around the same time, I had a heart attack.

“I couldn’t see any way out. I used to have a worker that came up from Wellpark. They tried me detoxing about three or four times. Each time I failed, but they still stayed with me.

“It was just drink, drink, drink. You couldn’t find anywhere to put your feet in my house for cider bottles and cans or whatever.”

Now sober, Fraser has found time in his life to pursue a range of hobbies, and has used the spare cash he has to buy himself a new motorcycle, replacing one he sold to pay for booze. 

He says his experience scared him so much that he quit drinking for good and has been working ever since to piece his life back together.

He said: “That moment frightened the living daylights out of me. Until then I just couldn’t envision going 10 minutes without a drink, never mind the rest of my life.

“Recovery was hard for the first six months, but after that I started getting myself busy, starting hobbies. Things would happen but I would just get through them.

"Since I was 12 I had been turning to alcohol as my crutch and go-to. For a laugh I’d drink, if I was crying I’d drink. I didn’t know anything else in my life.

“That’s six and a half years now. I haven’t touched a drop once.

“My health is better now, but they’ve also uncovered that I have a severe mental health problem. It's probably that I was masking it since I was young but I’ve been self-medicating with alcohol.

“It’s like I’ve been given a second life. There was my alcohol life, and from 50 on now I’m just trying to see how many years I can get.

“They gave me an outcome of about five or six years even if I stayed off the drink, but I’m still going after six and a half.

“I’ve got my daughter back now and she’s never away . It means a lot to have that back.”

Fraser is now urging others battling with alcoholism to seek help with their addictions.

He said: “You have to realise you have a problem.

"Go and see a doctor and be completely honest about your problem, how much, how often.

“If you have problems with that, there are services you can approach, you can go to the Wellpark or any of the other services.

“When you look at the reality of it, it’s like your best friend stabbing you in the back.

“You think it’s your crutch and it’s always been there, but it’s actually poisoning you slowly. If a person treated you like that you’d get them out of your life."