Doc wants to stop young dying of alcoholism
A doctor is completing 50 gruelling challenges to try and prevent more young people dying of alcoholism. Dr Alison Brind, consultant gastroenterologist at University Hospital of North Staffordshire, has a special interest in liver disease and treats hundreds of people each year for alcohol-related problems. She has seen so many young people die from the effects of alcohol she wanted to raise awareness of liver disease to prevent further unnecessary deaths.
Dr Brind is completing the 50 challenges as part of her 50th birthday celebrations. She said: "There is more and more bad liver disease coming through the hospital. People aren't aware of liver disease and there is very little public knowledge of it compared to cancer and heart disease. Alcohol is an addictive drug, people become additive and they can't stop drinking. I'd like to help to stop people from getting to the point where they are addicted. Young people are dying, I can think of lots of my patients who under the age of 50-years-old who have died prematurely."
Dr Brind doesn't think young people know what dreadful damage that they can do to their health through drinking. She said: "People are dying and, by the time they get to hospital, quite often aren't salvageable. We're talking about young people. I went through the ward lists and tried to think of 50 patients under the age of 50, my age, who I've looked after in the past year and who have died. Sadly, I had no difficulty in finding the names at all. It's an absolute tragedy that people's lives are wasted."
The London marathon was one of the first challenges Dr Brind completed and some of the others will take her to Germany, France and Spain. She said: "I like to set myself challenges and when I tuned 50-years-old I wanted to prove I was still up and running. I thought I would do 50 challenges, but then I thought I should link it to something so I have linked it to something I feel strongly about. I’d love to be one of these people who is still running at the age of 80-years-old."