Elton John saved my life after I practically misplaced it to alcohol

Well being

By Brooke Kato

Tom Cridland practically misplaced his life to alcohol — till Sir Elton John’s dedication to sobriety impressed him to do the identical.

“At my lowest level, I may have misplaced my life. I fell down the steps at Slough station and minimize my head open,” the London resident advised The Mirror.

“I as soon as drank 20 cans of Stella in a single sitting and couldn’t transfer for a couple of week after. Typically, my abdomen was in a lot ache that I couldn’t eat for days.”

Cridland, now 33, was identified to show an off-the-cuff drink with mates right into a booze-fueled bender and “wasn’t glad till I handed out,” spending a whole bunch attending events and making “horrible enterprise choices, he recalled.

“I couldn’t drink something for 10 days however then spend a complete week boozing and blacking out,” he admitted.

It wasn’t till he was drunk in entrance of his in-laws and “made a whole idiot” of himself whereas eating at a “good restaurant” that he determined to show his life round.

“I used to be mortified,” he mentioned. “That received me to take it at some point at a time.”

He as soon as feared that being sober would make him “boring,” however trying on the “Rocketman” singer’s “colourful and larger-than-life existence,” Cridland realized that wasn’t true.

The 76-year-old Grammy winner, who struggled with dependancy and has been sober for greater than three a long time, helped him via his “darkest occasions,” and on Oct. 13, 2017, Cridland give up booze for good.

Whereas he got here near relapsing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, he listened to Elton John daily. He additionally taught himself methods to play the piano to get him via — and even toured with an Elton John tribute band.

“If I hadn’t gone sober, I’d be chain smoking and closely consuming now,” he mentioned. “I’d in all probability have bodily and psychological well being issues, or I may have even died if I’d continued the way in which I used to be.”

Now, he now not seems like his life “is spiraling uncontrolled.”

“There are issues I miss — like staying up late and questioning the place the evening will take you — however I’m on the stage the place I can fortunately hang around with my mates whereas they’re boozing closely and keep sober,” Cridland mentioned.

“It’s very straightforward to collapse with out assist. It’s possible you’ll have to go to rehab or see a counselor, there’s locations you may go totally free to get your self assist,” he mentioned. “Settle for that you just’ve received to place your well being first — you don’t have to do it alone.”