I Spent Years Nearly Drinking Myself To Death. Then A Stranger Sent Me A Photo That Made Me Turn My Life Around

The author in the ICU in Thailand in 2020.Four years ago, I woke up in an ICU in Thailand. My liver was failing. I was drinking three bottles of wine a day, chasing it with whiskey, and swallowing handfuls of Valium. I wasn’t trying to numb the pain anymore – I was trying to kill myself. I just didn’t have the guts to do it all at once.Moving to Thailand was supposed to be my big fix. Back in Ireland, I’d built and sold a successful media company with 40 staff members across three cities. On paper, I was doing well.In real life, I was a wreck. I’d been a functioning alcoholic for years, hiding behind client meetings, late nights, and a culture where drinking hard was seen as normal. I was burned out, lost, and clinging to the hope that sunshine and distance might change something.It didn’t.In fact, Thailand made it worse. The freedom, the quiet, the time – it gave my addiction space to grow. With no structure around me, I lost the plot completely. I drank until I blacked out, every day, for months. I was surrounded by beaches and blue skies, but I wanted to disappear.The ICU stint scared me straight. It was rock bottom. I left the hospital and never touched a drink again. I woke up and realised I had two options: keep going and die, or stop and face everything I’d been running from. That was the day I quit. I haven’t had a drink since.But getting sober was just the start. I needed something bigger to hold onto. Something that gave the days shape.That’s when the dogs came in.At first, it was just a couple of strays I saw around the island. They were sick, mangy, limping. I left out some food. The next day, more showed up. Then more. Before I knew it, I was feeding dozens – then hundreds. The need was overwhelming. Thailand has millions of street dogs, and most of them are barely surviving.Nobody else seemed to be doing much. So I figured maybe I could.What started as something to keep me busy became the centre of my life. Today, I run a sanctuary called Happy Doggo. We feed more than 1,200 dogs every day. We rescue the ones that have been hit by cars, dumped, abused, and left to die. We also fund the sterilisation of thousands a month, which helps stop the suffering before it starts.These dogs have been through the worst, but they still want to trust. They still look at you with hope. That guts me every time.One dog in particular changed everything.Her name is Tina.I got a WhatsApp message one day – a photo from someone I didn’t know. It showed a dog chained under a shack up in the mountains. She was skin and bones, her fur was matted, and she was lying in her own filth. Her eyes were what really got me: broken, but still alert. I’ve seen a lot of rough cases, but this one hit different.I called Rod, my Aussie mate who helps with rescues, and we drove up into the hills. When we found her, she didn’t move much. Her chain was short, the ground was hard, and her body looked like it had given up. But when I reached out, she leaned into my hand. No fear. No flinching. Just surrender.The locals weren’t fussed. They said she was old, or maybe hit by a car. They didn’t argue when I asked to take her.The author with rescue puppies in Thailand in 2023.The vet didn’t sugarcoat it. Tina was riddled with parasites, she was anaemic, and her kidneys weren’t great. But the shocker was she was a golden retriever. You don’t see many of those on the streets here. The vet reckoned she’d been used for breeding, over and over, and then dumped when she couldn’t deliver any more litters. Used, then thrown away.That night, I wanted to give Tina something good. A proper meal. Real food. Something she hadn’t had in a long time.It nearly killed her.At the time, I didn’t know that starving dogs can’t handle big meals right away. Within an hour, her stomach ballooned. She started struggling to breathe. I freaked out. My colleague Valeria knew what it was – bloat – a deadly condition where the stomach fills with gas and can twist. If it’s not treated fast, they will die.We didn’t have a vet on hand. It was just us, a needle, and a lot of panic. Valeria stuck the needle in and released the gas. It hissed out like a pressure cooker, and I thought, maybe, just maybe, we’d bought her a bit more time.That night, I sat beside Tina listening to her breathe. I thought about the times I nearly died – all the nights I’d wanted it to end – and here I was, doing everything I could to keep this broken little dog alive.Over the next few days, Tina stayed close. She slept in my bed. Ate tiny meals. Slowly, her fur started growing back. Her eyes softened. She wagged her tail. One day, after a bath, a tuft of hair stuck up like something out of an ’80s music video. I looked at her and thought, You’re Tina Turner.That’s how she got her name.The author with Tina in Thailand in 2023.Tina became the face of Happy Doggo. People connected with her story – and I think it’s because we all love a comeback. I certainly do.She reminded me of myself. Shackled. Exhausted. Written off. But still here. Still trying.Before all this, I thought success meant money, nice things, a big exit. I had those, and I was miserable. Now, I go to sleep knowing I’ve helped someone survive another day – even if that someone is covered in fleas and chewing my flip-flop. I’ve never felt more grounded.Sobriety gave me my life back. But the dogs gave me a reason to live it.People ask why I do this – why I spend my days scooping poop, chasing donations, running around after sick animals. The answer’s simple: because someone has to. And because, somewhere along the way, they saved me, too.I wrote a book about Tina – and about all of this. It’s called Tina: The Dog Who Changed the World. It’s her story, but it’s mine as well. A story about getting knocked down, and choosing to get up again. About how the smallest life can give you the biggest reason to keep going.There are 500 million street dogs in the world. I’ve made it my mission to save half of them. Sounds mad, I know. But I believe in impossible things now.I believe a dog can save a man’s life. And I believe Tina wasn’t just a dog. She was the start of everything.The author holding the first book he published, "Hope: How Street Dogs Taught Me the Meaning of Life."Niall Harbison is an author, former tech entrepreneur, and street dog rescuer based in Thailand. A recovered alcoholic, he now runs Happy Doggo, a nonprofit that feeds and cares for more than 1,000 street dogs every day. His memoir, “Hope: How Street Dogs Taught Me the Meaning of Life,” became a Sunday Times bestseller, and his latest book, “Tina: The Dog Who Changed the World,” which appeared on the New York Times best-sellers list in 2025, honors the rescue dog who started it all. Follow his journey at happydoggo.com, on Instagram (@niall.harbison and @wearehappydoggo), or on YouTube at http://youtube.com/@wearehappydoggo.Do you have a compelling personal story you’d like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we’re looking for here and send us a pitch at [email protected] and support:If you need help with a drinking problem, call the Alcoholics Anonymous national helpline for free on 0800 9177 650 or email [email protected] advice on how to reduce drinking, visit Drinkaware’s website or Alcohol Change UK.Find alcohol addiction services near you using this NHS tool.Related...I Told My Doctor I'd Been Living In Excruciating Pain For 7 Years. His 2-Word Response Was Shocking.'I Worry My Husband's Been Radicalised By The Far Right. WTF Do I Do?'My Kids Are Asking About All The England Flags. What Should I Tell Them?

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