A mum was told she had just 24 hours to live after drinking three litres of vodka a day at the height of her alcohol addiction.
Charlotte Durcan considered herself a non-drinker just three years before her addiction reached its peak. But as a self-confessed 'extremist', within 36 months she had spiralled out of control and was in danger of losing her life.
The 30-year-old began to suffer seizures and blackouts as a result of her drinking, finding that without vodka she would start shaking and sweating, reports LancsLive.
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It was when Charlotte, from Colne, realised that she couldn't go without a drink that she knew the drinking had become a serious addiction.
The mum-of-two said: "In the mornings, I would have to have a drink, just to level me out.
"It would be vodka and that would be a pint of vodka neat. That would be literally to stop me from shaking and stop me from being too sick and sweating - that'd work.
"From there, it would just carry on throughout the day, but obviously, when money went tight and things, I would try and get family to get me drink. I was using all my money up on drink, so they'd sometimes only be able to get me bottles of wine and things.
"Then I started to realise it was a problem, when I could have a full bottle of wine and it wouldn't affect me." Charlotte realised she needed to drink vodka in order to feel a difference, but after blacking out again, she visited the hospital for the first time.
She was kept in for a few days and returned home. However, despite going four days without drinking whilst being admitted, she "went straight back to the drink" upon her return and ended up back in hospital again, with this circle of events occurring around three or four times.
"The last time, I ended up in intensive care with multiple organ failure," Charlotte continued. "I had heart failure, liver failure, kidney failure and they had to take two litres of fluid from my lungs and I was in for three weeks, but I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I couldn't talk.
"So I was in intensive care, I was on oxygen and they got all of my family in to say bye to me. I was literally on end of life care."
Charlotte's family visited her bedside at 2am, after they were told by doctors she had only 24 hours left to live. However, she says that somehow she "managed to pull through" and ended up going to rehab after recovering from her hospital visit.
Nowadays, the mum is celebrating 11 months of sobriety and is volunteering for Inspire Lancashire, which are currently undertaking an alcohol awareness campaign, Hidden in Plain Sight. The campaign focuses on people with addictions who may not appear to be suffering on the outside, but are battling with their inner demons, that can sometimes lead to fatalities.
Charlotte says that often, addiction is associated with people who have been struggling for years, but in her case, she was grappled by alcoholism quickly. "My story is a lot different to other people's," Charlotte explained.
"I think people think that you have to be an alcoholic for so many years or start off as a drinker, then a binge drinker and then you're an alcoholic. Whereas, I'm trying to raise awareness that it can literally happen to you so quickly, without you even realising and then it can be too late for some people.
"I was close to dying, all of my family thought I was going to die, but I didn't have a clue because I was so out of it. That was my outcome after two years of drinking heavily."
Inspire Lancashire helped Charlotte to get into rehab when she was discharged from hospital and her relationship with the service has remained strong ever since. She says the team supported her to stop drinking gradually, as stopping cold turkey would have most likely killed her.
The service is geared towards helping people tackling their drug and alcohol use by reducing or removing substances from people's lives. For Charlotte, she's hoping to raise awareness of addiction and inspire others to ask for help if they're struggling with their own journeys.
For her future, Charlotte's hoping to get to a year sobriety and from there, will then look into finding full-time employment.
