I am not sure whether or not I was born to be Alcoholic, the jury is still out from my point of view on the genetic connection. Very strong arguments for this to be the case and indeed both my parents were Alcoholic. There is a common thread through the family tree of vague causes of death too, which could quite easily have been connected to booze. My Father died of cirrhosis at 57, my Mother of early onset dementia, and heart failure at 62, attributed to heavy drinking. But I ask is it genetic or is it learnt behaviour?
I am a twin. I first experience of tragedy caused indirectly by drinking, was the death of my twin brother Andrew, aged 22 months. My Mother and Father had been invited to a cocktail party, and for some reason decided to take us along. The venue was near an old Mill, with pond, Andrew fell in and drowned. I shall never know why we were anywhere near the water, but the event and the subsequent grief throughout my Mother's and my life were searingly painful. To lose a child is possibly the worst experience any parent can have, but the circumstances of that death must be truly haunting. For me, I felt constantly that the wrong twin drowned, that it should have been me. I have an elder brother, but there was something that nagged me all my childhood about the fairness I suppose of me still being alive. On Andrew's gravestone, it reads, 'A Borrowed Treasure.'
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