Reformed drug addict raising money to fix teeth in Turkey to remove final ‘constant reminder’ of his difficult past

A former drug addict of 20 years who turned his life around to become a YouTube creator is raising money to get his teeth fixed in Turkey to let him smile again and forget his difficult past.

Stephen Smart, 35, from Leicester, became a drug addict after being left to his own devices at age 18 in Canada, finding his grandmother dead, becoming homeless and losing his 15-year-old best friend, all in the space of three years.

Stephen even used to collect lead from roofs to sell to survive and attempted suicide after many years of trauma and going through a divorce.

He has since received professional help for his mental health, is entirely sober, and makes YouTube videos about music and his past.

However, Stephen’s teeth are stopping him from fully moving on from his past, saying: “My teeth are a constant reminder of how I was an idiot and it’s causing all this pain for me now.

“All of my teeth have holes in, or are cracked, and I hate smiling.”

When Stephen was 16, in 2003, he and his family moved to Canada, where he said “he started to go downhill” and was “falling in with less savoury characters” who exposed him to cannabis.

After living in North America for two years, his mother married a Canadian, and Stephen decided to stay in Canada while his mum and now stepdad moved back to Leicester.

Stephen was left to his devices, sofa surfing on friends’ couches, and smoking cannabis daily.

After a year, he began to realise this lifestyle was unhealthy, and his best friend from Leicester, Kai Birtles, 15, died from a brain haemorrhage, so he decided to move back to the UK.

Stephen moved in with his grandmother, Jacqueline Bishop, 62, in May 2006, and in November 2008, she passed away from a heart attack.

Stephen discovered her body, saying: “I tried to save her, I did all the CPR, and was on the phone to 999. That was all just a nightmare, on top of being homesick from Canada.”

He added: “I was then forced back into my mum’s house. There were six of us, and it was just coming to a head, and it was going to explode at some point.

“I think the two losses in quick succession were pivotal in the decline of it all, to be honest.

“It was just a perfect storm.”

Stephen, who became emotional while speaking, admitted: “I built a reputation for myself, I was a scumbag and I was all over the shop.

“It feels like it was somebody else in control of me. I was stealing from my family to get money for weed and all kinds of stuff, and I wouldn’t tell my mum where I was. She didn’t know if I was alive or dead, and again, she had just lost her mum.

“She kicked me out, and it felt like the worst thing ever. But now, it’s the best thing she ever did. It forced me to get back on my feet.”

For six weeks in early 2009, Stephen was homeless. He slept in his local park near his estate and continued taking a range of drugs daily.

He eventually found refuge in a hostel in Leicester where he was mixing with people that could get their hands on every drug imaginable and was so desperate for money that he used to climb onto roofs to steal the lead to sell on.

He said: “I’d been introduced to stuff like ecstasy and cocaine. My daily routine was waking up, making coffee and doing a line of coke.”

This routine continued for years, and Stephen finds these years of his life difficult to remember from the mix of drugs constantly in his system.

He said: “It all just resulted in this horrible outlook on myself. For at least a decade I didn’t respect myself, hated how I looked and didn’t look after myself.”

Out of the blue, in 2016, Stephen received a message from his secondary school girlfriend from Canada.

After chatting online and reconnecting, the pair decided to get married, and Stephen moved back to Canada.

But the marriage was short-lived, ending sourly, and Stephen’s drug addiction continued, to the point where he attempted suicide.

He returned to the UK and was determined to turn his life around, so his mother took him to the GP to discuss his mental health.

He said: “It helped me to step out of my situation and look at it all from the outside.

“Looking back, it was a gradual addiction which turned into this massive monster that I couldn’t control.”

Stephen then began a course of SSRI antidepressants and gradually gave up drugs and alcohol, but his teeth reminded him of his past.

After years of drug and alcohol abuse, Stephen’s gums have receded, and his teeth are extremely discoloured and cracked.

He said: “I can’t smile without putting my hand up to my mouth. I don’t laugh – if I do, I have to pinch my nose and put my hand over my mouth.

“It shattered my self-confidence.”

He added: “If anything I eat is too hot, cold or sweet, it hurts. So I set up a GoFundMe to raise money to fix my teeth.

“I was so apprehensive because I didn’t want to ask for help. I never sort of have, either, and I deal with it on my own, or I don’t deal with it at all.

“I mean, I feel guilty asking for help. But I can’t do it independently, and it’s too expensive.”

Stephen is planning to have his teeth fixed in Turkey, which will cost him around £5,000, whereas in the UK it would cost approximately £20,000.

On November 30, 2022, he managed to raise enough for the deposit and is continuing to get donations from his YouTube and Patreon followers.

Stephen has just under 7,000 YouTube subscribers and posts his reactions to listening to music. He has vlogged his journey to recovery.

He said: “I sort of share my struggles. If it helps one dude or girl sitting in a room, sad and doesn’t know where to go, my achievement is unlocked.”

Stephen explained what he would say to others in a similar situation to him: “Even if it feels hopeless, even if you feel like you just want to give up, it’s not the end. It’s never the end. You can always pull yourself out of it, and there’s always tomorrow.”

Samaritans can be contacted day or night, 365 days a year. You can call them for free on 116 123, email them at jo@samaritans.org, or visit samaritans.org to find your nearest branch.

For drug support, contact:

www.talktofrank.com/contact-frank
www.ukna.org/content/contact-us
www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/recreational-drugs-alcohol-and-addiction/support-for-drug-and-alcohol-problems/