Said ‘Please don’t go to the pub, daddy.’ heart and I haven’t had a drink since
Danielle. “I dreaded the thought of this new baby being born to an alcoholic dad.
“I was hardly the best dad in the world but here was my chance to change.”
With a devoted wife and three lovely daughters to live for, John knew it was now or never.
His local doctor had warned him he would die before he was 50, and probably several years before that, as his liver and heart would give out from all the alcohol. He was also at serious risk of a stroke, the GP said.
“I was determined, but, like most alcoholics, I backslid and it took Peyton to stop me drinking completely.
“I had already joined my local NHS drugs and alcohol service before backsliding and going back,” John added. A friend suggested he take up running but he laughed at them, thinking this was something other people did, but not for him. He said:
“I could hardly run 200 metres and had always been the kid who skipped PE at school.
“My mum used to write excuse notes for the teacher. But I thought I would try it and see. Now I love it, mainly because it’s miles better than standing down the pub.
“I no longer look boozed-up and my GP is fair chuffed.”
John, whose dad, James died from cancer, has now competed in races for charity and has raised £ 10,000 for Cancer Research UK along the way.
“I just wanted to show the family, and dad, how much I had changed,” he smiled.
John’s next event is a five-kilometre Santa dash for the children’s hospice Jigsaw, just over the English border in Carlisle, on December 8.
As for Peyton, she now goes out running with her proud dad John.
“She’s pretty good and our wee one Danielle, is fast, too,” says Joanne.
Joanne, 35, says there is never an argument in the house now.
“We are the happy family I hoped we could always be,” she added. “Our girls were his turning point.
“I understand how difficult it is to conquer addiction. We have lived through John’s. It’s been a long journey for him but we’ve got him back.”