A former junkie has revealed how he ditched his obsessive want for medication, rebuilt his life and have become a TikTok sensation after being hooked on heroin for 17 years.
On the peak of his dependancy Danny Shannon would say or do one factor to get a restore – he did not care if he was homeless, had meals or needed to steal from his household.
Nothing mattered to him greater than the acute.
He educated FEMAIL the second he began to sober up, to primarily actually really feel one issue, he can be on the hunt as quickly as further.
‘Getting excessive was the precedence – homeless addicts can frequently get meals, nothing nonetheless being stoned factors,’ he talked about.
For 17 years nothing mattered extra to Danny Shannon than discovering heroin and getting excessive, he’s pictured correct proper right here collectively collectively along with his son, who’s now an grownup, and ex-partner who he met at a methadone clinic
Danny talked about he spent most of his time between the ages of 18 and 28 in jail – after doing no matter it took to get medication, together with stealing cars
‘I misplaced my potential to find out on. There have been solely medication, nothing else was an choice.’
The 47-year-old talked about he would spend about $3,000 on heroin every week all through the 90s and early 2000’s, with inflation that may seemingly be equal to about $6,800 now.
Nonetheless cash wasn’t an issue.
‘You could do no matter it took to get cash for medication. You could steal cars, rob factories, rip off your personal mom,’ he talked about.
Danny began dabbling with medication on the age of 14 after his household moved to Queensland and he made associates with native youngsters who smoked pot.
Inside a yr he had tried cocaine, mushrooms, ‘cream pies’, LSD, and amphetamines equal to velocity.
‘It began to get unhealthy when mum moved as soon as extra to Sydney due to my dad did not care about that type of stuff, he even helped me get it,’ Danny talked about.
He has now been sober for 13 years – after attempting 49 occasions to kick his habits
‘For years he can be my fence, serving to me promote factors so I had cash, he enabled it.’
Nonetheless it was when Danny moved as soon as extra to Sydney that factors obtained important.
‘All through the 90s in Cabramatta heroin was in all places, you cannot get off the apply with out being supplied it,’ he talked about.
‘I used to be terrified the day I did it, I did not assume I might ever contact it nonetheless I assume I merely folded to see stress.’
‘I be mindful shaking as I used to be injected by my supplier, Wok, all through the as soon as extra room of his condominium.’
He now has an vital relationship collectively collectively along with his group – and is making up for 17 years of deception
Danny spent the subsequent 17 years chasing the acute.
He tried to stop nonetheless each time he obtained significantly bit sober he would begin spiralling into emotions of self loathing and disgrace.
‘The second I began to primarily actually really feel one issue I might get as soon as extra on it,’ he talked about.
After the age of 15, Danny frolicked out and in of boys’ properties after being caught stealing to generate earnings for medication.
He spent his 18th birthday in jail, nonetheless even incarceration could not protect him clear.
‘I used to be stoned on day-to-day basis,’ he talked about.
Danny would not have many footage of his drug-addled years and says since he has been sober he has misplaced 100 former associates to overdoses
Between the ages of 18 and 28 he was ‘locked up as a rule’.
‘They gave me methadone on day-to-day basis and I frequently managed to look out away to get my self-intoxicated in a number of methods,’ he talked about.
Seeing a ‘lot of jail time’ in his future, Danny determined to go for the federal authorities’s methadone program to attempt to get off heroin.
That is the place he met his son’s mom.
‘We had been each f***ed up frequently, after we got here throughout we had been having a child I mentioned I might cease – trying as soon as extra I realise how ridiculous that was,’ he talked about.
Danny remembers waking as rather a lot as paramedics and as a substitute of thanking them for saving his life he berated them for stealing his excessive
‘Nothing factors extra to a junkie than their medication. My remaining six years of dependancy I used to be furthermore utilizing ice.’
Danny overdosed 15 occasions in 17 years – and remembers being ‘pissed off’ when paramedics revived him.
‘They provide you Narcan which might take away your excessive, so that you just’d stand up and be livid,’ he talked about.
‘I be mindful refusing to go to hospital, attempting to work out how I might get extra heroin due to they merely ruined my excessive.’
Danny ‘stop’ the drug 49 occasions.
The final word time he stop was September 2009. He was in a mannequin new rehab facility and by the aim Christmas obtained proper right here spherical he was 60 days sober.
Danny stop medication for good in 2009 – he remembers nearly giving up on the 60-day mark after an excruciating Christmas lunch collectively collectively along with his household nonetheless determined in opposition to getting excessive
To have time, his mum invited him for lunch.
‘I did not must go, I felt fairly a bit disgrace. I appeared all through the desk at their faces, my household, understanding I had ripped each one amongst them off,’ he talked about.
He left the occasion feeling deflated and determined to ‘throw all of it away’ and head to Kings Cross to get excessive.
‘I used to be standing on the nook. The bus to take me as soon as extra to rehab was on the left, and if I went right, I knew I might get medication,’ he talked about.
‘Then a miracle occurred. For the primary time in my life I made a specific resolution, I went left.’
He hasn’t had an amazing must get on the gear since.
He talked about he was utterly unemployable and would rip off anybody who gave him an opportunity
Danny talked about greater than 100 earlier acquaintances had died from their drug addictions in merely 10 years.
‘Nonetheless that does not counsel sobriety is any simpler, the primary 60 days are hell,’ he talked about.
‘Being on medication could be very straightforward, being hooked, since you solely have to fret about one concern.
‘Everytime you get sober you get all of the depressive ideas, you consider the fogeys you would possibly want hurt and you can come nostril to nostril with that disgrace.
‘And if you land in jail or one issue it may not trouble you due to it’s merely the hand you had been dealt,’ he talked about.
The next two years had been the toughest when Danny was confronted with alternatives most ‘widespread’ people are used to: The place to dwell, the place to work, and one of the simplest ways to present for his household.
Being an addict stripped away Danny’s potential to have decisions – when he obtained sober he needed to make alternatives for the primary time ever together with the place to work and one of the simplest ways to dwell
He obtained a job serving to addicts into restoration – and labored his methodology as rather a lot as develop to be second in value.
‘It was nice – I had not at all held a job for very extended and correct proper right here I used to be doing good work,’ he talked about.
He was let go from the job in August when his social media presence started to kick off.
Danny has since develop to be vastly widespread on TikTok and Facebook, utilizing the platforms to supply suggestion.
‘At first I used to be very nervous about it, I used to be let go on my birthday,’ he talked about.
Days later he obtained his first contract to take an addict to Thailand for therapy.
‘I’ve been busy ever since, it’s nice seeing these individuals doing so efficiently. And I really like being my very private boss,’ he talked about.
A part of his enterprise is on social media – the place he offers individuals suggestion on one of the simplest ways to get off medication, and likewise affords family and buddies members of addicts’ a shoulder to lean on.
5 years before now he furthermore constructed up his personal enterprise, Encapsulator, which permits individuals to movie themselves and put it in a time chamber.
‘They are going to then see it on no matter date they needed to, see how far they’ve come, and know that they aren’t being judged for it.’
He makes use of his educating and Encapsulator as a part of his work with recovering addicts, and is even a registered NDIS supplier.
‘I had 17 years of hell, and I hurt quite a few people, nonetheless I frequently say if all of that was so I might assist an entire bunch of individuals kick the habits now then it’s price it.’
Danny is now shut collectively collectively along with his son who obtained proper right here as soon as extra into his life ‘appropriately’ when he was 10.
He furthermore has a five-year-old daughter, and loves being a ‘acceptable father or mother’.
He has an vital relationship collectively collectively along with his son and is proud to have the ability to be an exact father after so many onerous years
‘I’m as soon as extra on good phrases with my household, they even come to me for suggestion now,’ he talked about.
‘I really like my life now, it is filled with good individuals and the most effective half is I now have decisions.’
