Ballymun Recovery Stories: Personal Journeys of Drug & Alcohol Recovery
7 Kieron’s Story “Recovery is something that you have to work on every single day and it’s something that doesn’t get a day off.”
-Demi Lovato I grew up in Ballymun. I was the oldest of 7 and I still live here today. Ballymun is my home. We did not have much in our house, but we never had to starve. Food was always on our table, and my parents did their very best. I grew up and loved football. I always had a dream of playing for Liverpool. As a kid walking around, you would always see me with a football. I just loved playing and would stay out very late, scruffy dirty and playing in muck and having loads of fun. It was always about winning. I hated losing. I played in Croke Park and won on a few occasions. I played
with lots of great clubs in Ballymun. I was always afraid growing up. I walked around full of fear and I was a very insecure child and I was always comparing myself to others. I wanted what other people had. I started drinking and taking solvents from about the age of 11. I knew it was wrong, but the fear of getting into trouble never stopped me. I was always in trouble at school. I was always looking for attention and I wanted to be noticed all the time. I started smoking hash and going to discos on a Saturday night. I never had any confidence around women, but when I was drunk, I 31
