‍ ‍So Proud to Support Brandon’s ‘Run for Recovery’.

His Story -I started gambling when I was 17 years old.

At first, it was riding to the pub after work and placing a few bets. At the time, it felt harmless — something social, something exciting. But looking back now, I know my relationship with gambling was unhealthy from the very beginning.

After a few years, I moved from the pub to online betting apps. Suddenly, gambling wasn’t somewhere I had to go. It was available 24 hours a day, right in my pocket.

What was already becoming an addiction quickly escalated.

For the next decade, gambling consumed a huge part of my life. It became a constant cycle of chasing wins, chasing losses, telling myself the next bet would fix everything, then dealing with the guilt, shame and anxiety when it didn’t.

There were wins along the way sometimes big ones but they only pulled me further in. A win never meant stopping. It just meant I had more money to gamble with.

By the beginning of 2024, things had spiralled completely out of control.

I had exhausted my savings and sold assets that had always been my financial safety net. I was borrowing money, lying to the people closest to me and hiding anything related to my finances.

But the damage went far beyond money.

Gambling affected my relationships, my mental health and the person I had become. Eventually, the consequences became so significant that we had to postpone our wedding.

By October 2024, I had reached rock bottom.

I genuinely believed that if something didn’t change, gambling was going to end my life.

So I did the hardest and ultimately most important thing I have ever done.

I asked for help. - I reached out to Dr Vicky Northe, who, alongside Dr Jane Oaks, completely changed the direction of my life. Towards the end of 2024, I entered CALM Rehab. With the support of Vicky and Jane, I began understanding addiction rather than simply blaming myself for it. I learnt about gambling harm, cognitive behavioural therapy, exposure therapy, triggers, urges and the behaviours that had controlled so much of my life.

Most importantly, I learnt something I desperately needed to believe:

Recovery was possible. - During that period, I also discovered something that would become a huge part of my recovery running. Running gave me somewhere to put my energy. It gave me structure when my life had felt chaotic, goals when I’d lost direction, and a way to clear my mind when things became difficult. Slowly, running became my therapy. Every kilometre felt like another step away from the person gambling had turned me into and another step towards the person I wanted to become.

Today, my life looks completely different.

The anxiety has eased. I’ve rebuilt relationships. I’ve rediscovered purpose and happiness. And the wedding that gambling once forced us to postpone eventually became something we were able to celebrate.

But I don’t want my story to simply be about what happened to me. I want to use it to help create change. I’ve now teamed up with the Alliance for Gambling Reform to create a campaign using running to raise awareness of gambling harm, recovery and the need for reform.

And we’re working towards one huge goal:

42.2 kilometres at the 2027 Osaka Marathon. 

I’ll be documenting the entire journey the training, the marathon and, more importantly, the story behind why I’m doing it. This isn’t about proving I can run 42.2 kilometres. It’s about using those 42.2 kilometres to start conversations about gambling harm, reduce the shame and stigma surrounding addiction, and show people who may currently feel trapped that recovery is real and asking for help can change your life. If sharing my story gives even one person the courage to speak up, ask for help or realise they aren’t alone, then every early morning, every training run, every sore leg and every kilometre will have been worth it.

This is bigger than running. It’s about recovery. t’s about change. And hopefully, it’s about helping someone else take their first step too.