A couple who spent more than a decade addicted to drugs have shown off their incredible transformation after getting clean.
Holly Fitzwater, 32, who lives in Perth, Scotland, and her partner Jake, 30, were “skinny, dirty and close to death” before managing to turn their lives around.
Incredible Holly, who works for NHS Test and Trace, has told how she started taking drugs at the age of 20, which plunged her life in chaos.
She lost custody of her son and spent time behind bars for shoplifting to fund her habit.
She met Jake, a fellow addict, in 2019 and the two continued to struggle with their horrifying disease, although they were mutually desperate to get clean.
Now they've shared how they bravely made the first steps towards recovery - and the transformation their lives have undertook since.
Holly said: “I was so scared of the withdrawals – they were so sore that I was petrified to go through them.
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“The first time I shoplifted my heart was pounding, I felt sick and was shaking – but all that was going through my head was ‘Holly, you’re going to feel ill, these withdrawals are going to be painful’.”
The couple were both estranged from their families and completely isolated, living in a “cold, dark and dingy” homeless flat.
On Christmas Day 2020 – Holly’s birthday – they finally knew it was time to make a change, and Holly rang the council.
She said: “We were there in this cold, damp flat with nothing and I said to Jake ‘we can’t live like this anymore’. The next day I phoned Edinburgh, Stirling and Perth council begging for help.
"Perth offered us a tenancy and 28 days later we packed up and moved instantly – no furniture, just a few bags of clothes.
“We had to move. In Fife we knew every dealer and all of our friends were addicts.
"We had tried to stop before and would stop for a week but then in town we would bump into an addict or dealer and relapse instantly.”
The couple were given methadone to help with withdrawal and isolated themselves in their new home.
Holly said: “We followed the same routine until eventually one week had gone by without using, then another.
“The cravings were still there but we became more determined – the more stable we got, the better we felt. We were liking our new life.”
They battled feelings of guilt, struggling with their dark memories and feeling “embarrassed and disgraced” at their previous actions, but after two months Holly reached out to her son and has been building a relationship with him since – even having him to stay on weekends.
The couple have also found they are “more in love than ever” since they stopped using, getting to know the “real” them.
Now, they have been clean and sober from drugs and alcohol for 10 months and are unrecognisable from their former selves.
The pair recently shared photos on TikTok showing their incredible transformation and the video went viral, having racked up 3.8 million views and over 230,000 likes.
One person commented: “You should be so proud of yourselves really happy for you.”
“Such an achievement you should be so proud,” agreed another viewer.
Someone else added: “Amazing well done look how far you’ve come! Keep going don’t ever give up.”
They now share videos of their addiction journey in a bid to raise awareness to the dangers of heroin addiction.
Holly added: “I used to think I'll never get clean and do that that's a fairy tale story, but I did it and I want to show others it's possible while educating children, parents and adults on how to get help, how to recover.
“[I want to] show them how it's possible – getting clean is not a dream, it's reality.
“I know as an addict I did horrible things and I regret them every day, but by helping others I hope I can make amends for it.
“Now I’m concentrating on staying clean, working and most of all seeing my family grow with love and happiness.”
