By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
AT HIS worst, John was drinking a slab of bourbon and cola a day.
After 15 years of heavy drinking culminating in a broken leg, which cost the 56-year-old his job and his house, John was saved by the Salvos.
John, who didn’t want his surname published, is now a volunteer at the Salvation Army depot in Doveton, spending his days giving back to the organisation responsible for saving his life.
“January last year I busted my leg and couldn’t work obviously with a broken leg, I was in a wheel chair, and became homeless because I couldn’t afford to pay the rent,” John said.
“I couldn’t work and stupidly I didn’t have work insurance.
“I lost my job and got evicted from my house in Box Hill, so I went to Box Hill Police Station and they put me in touch with Salvation Army crisis care.”
From there John was set up with transitional housing in Nunawading where, if not for the help of the district nurse detecting a blood clot in his broken leg, the former motor mechanic has no doubt he would have died.
“She talked me into getting in her car and going down to the doctor and from there I had to go immediately to have an ultrasound and, sure enough, I had a blood clot,” he said.
“She was right and I was wrong. I would have been dead if not for her, or the Salvation Army.”
John admits he was half-drunk when he tripped over his cat last year while mopping the floor in the home he rented, breaking his right tibia and fibula bones.
He said his problems with the bottle, which saw John go as far as stealing from his employer to fund his habit, began gradually.
“When you think back and analyse it, it’s very gradual, it just creeps up on you,” John said.
“You buy a four-pack, and you have them after work and then all of sudden it’s not enough.”
While undergoing alcohol counselling organised by the Salvation Army, representatives from the Salvos visted John at his new government rental property in Eumemmerring and offered him volunteer work.
He now volunteers there five days a week, helping out with a range of activities from testing and tagging electrical equipment, to participating in food runs.
“I daresay if I didn’t have the opportunity to volunteer here then maybe I might be sitting at home, twiddling my thumbs getting bored, thinking about having a beer,” John said.
“They’ve saved my life. I would have definitely had an embolism on my lung or a stroke with the blood clot, no question about it, if the nurse hadn’t have insisted that I go to the doctor straight away.
“And they’ve put me back on the straight and narrow, enjoying life and just enjoying helping people five days a week.
“Especially the smiles on people’s faces, when you’re helping them and they thank you and they really mean it.”
Donations made to the Red Shield Appeal ensure The Salvation Army can provide services that help more than 1 million people every year.
With support from the community, The Salvation Army operates more than 1000 different programs and services across the country, assisting people experiencing homelessness, financial crisis, family and domestic violence or affected by natural disaster.
Make a donation to the Red Shield Appeal by calling 13 SALVOS or by visiting salvationarmy.org.au.
