The Telegraph.

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How would you react if you were told your days were numbered?

That your life had been cut short by a treatment that was meant to make you better,

and that in two or three years you were going to die from a painful and stigmatised disease.

The worst thing they did was but two to three years on it.

With that prognosis, you'd find yourself grieving for your life.

Your first reaction would probably be denial, unable to comprehend the gravity of the news.

We were just numb. We were in a state of shock.

And you might try to carry on, as if nothing has happened. We were in a state of shock. And you might try to carry on as if nothing has happened.

We just didn't speak about it, to be honest.

There was nothing to say to each other. There was nothing we could do.

I just used to get on the sofa, pull a duvet over me and just sit and watch TV.

And you hope that that'll be a treatment. That'll be okay. They're going to be okay.

As time passes, you'll become increasingly terrified about the end of your life, worrying when

your time will come, it will get harder to carry on as normal.

It's going to die young anyway, right? So what's the point in school?

Yeah, I kind of went off the rails a little bit, yeah. Yeah, well, quite a lot to be honestly.

I had to give up work.

I had no other option.

I used to drink a lot, drink to null the pain.

I nerve at least eight or nine people that drank themselves almost to death.

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