'I'm proud of meself': 54-year-old Tipperary woman who started using drugs at 11 marks two years sober

A 54-year-old woman from Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, who started taking drugs at 11, has expressed her pride in herself after marking two years sober.

Phil Byrnes says she "never really had a home" and had a "very rough" childhood. 

She was raised in a care home in Tipperary and used to run away every day, as she was being abused by those who were supposed to look after her, according to a Facebook post by the Good Shepherd Centre. 

At just eight years old, Phil started drinking to block out the pain. 

At 11, she started taking drugs, and by age 13, she had her first child.

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Phil got married when she was just 16, but that did not work out for her.

"Life was hard them days," she said.

At 21, she decided to try for a fresh start and moved to Kilkenny with a new partner.

Phil worked in a taxi office and as a seamstress, but continued to use drugs, eventually progressing to ever stronger ones to cope with the trauma she had.

"I was on heroin, ecstasy, speed, cocaine. It took me life. It keeps the bad memories blocked in," she explained. 

Because of her addiction, Phil ended up living in a tent at Green's Bridge for two years, and also spent some time in prison for theft. 

While at her lowest point, Phil started to self-harm.

"I gave up in meself. I just wanted to die. I was cutting my arms, I was cutting my legs. I was cutting every part of my body to try and take the pain away," she said. 

She was introduced to the Good Shepherd Centre in Kilkenny somewhere along the way, and Phil's life changed for good. 

She was placed in an apartment and felt completely relieved to have her own home.

"It was so amazing. It was like a new life fell over me. I felt safe," she recalled. 

At the beginning of her time with the Centre, Phil was not ready to get help from addiction services.

She eventually attended the methadone clinic at the HSE's Ardú Substance Misuse Service. 

This helped her to come off drugs, and she stopped drinking.

She has now marked over two years sober and says she is "coping well." 

Nowadays, Phil enjoys walking, listening to local radio, cooing, and spending time with her family.

She has 13 children and 13 grandchildren, as well as a cat called Casper, who followed her home from the Centre and never left her side.

"I’m proud of meself at the moment. I’m really proud of meself," Phil said.