Cherry Healey: Old Before My Time
Episode 1: Alcohol
1 hour
Series in which Cherry Healey investigates the alarming rise in numbers of young people suffering from illnesses associated with older people due to alcohol, drugs and obesity.
We all know that drinking, drugs and fast food are bad for you, but these days a life of excess isn't just leaving young people hungover, it's accelerating their age - hit by chronic conditions usually the preserve of pensioners, their young bodies and minds are ready for retirement.
In the first programme, Cherry meets medical experts who are treating young recovering alcoholics like Jo, who has damaged her liver so much that her stomach is filled with 23 litres of fluid which must be drained every three weeks. She also meets 21-year-old Mat, who fell into an alcohol-induced coma and had to have a liver transplant. Show less