Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Addiction

Drug addict once given a year to live celebrates sobriety after rehab: ‘We can recover’

By Alexandria Hein Fox News
Published
close
Fox News Flash top headlines for August 29 Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for August 29

Fox News Flash top headlines for August 29 are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com

After spending 15 years in a downward spiral, Caroline Best was told at age 36 that if she didn’t give up heroin and crack cocaine, she’d be dead within a year. Best, who had been caught shoplifting in order to fund her drug addiction, was suffering from heart failure, SWNS reported.

But doctors refused to operate until she got sober.

MARYLAND REPORTS 5 'SEVERE' VAPING-LINKED LUNG ILLNESS CASES 

With the help of a police chief from West Midlands, England, Best went to rehab, and is now celebrating a year sober and improved health. She no longer needs heart surgery, and is nearly unrecognizable in her mug shot from last year.

Caroline best, pictured, is now celebrating a year sober and improved health after giving up heroin and crack cocaine. 

Caroline best, pictured, is now celebrating a year sober and improved health after giving up heroin and crack cocaine.  (SWNS)

“I am living proof that we can recover,” Best told SWNS.

Best said thanks to officer Stuart Toogood, who is part of the Offender to Rehab Program at his police force, she is now a “productive member of society.”

PHOTOS OF DRUG USER'S HOME SHED LIGHT ON CHILDHOOD MARRED BY ADDICTION 

Doctors had allegedly refused to operate unless she got sober. 

Doctors had allegedly refused to operate unless she got sober.  (SWNS)

Toogood said the program has successfully rehabilitated nine former criminals, and that there has been a “huge reduction of shop thefts.”

Now 12 months clean, Best no longer needs surgery. 

Now 12 months clean, Best no longer needs surgery.  (SWNS)

“We are certainly seeing a benefit in this new approach,” he told SWNS.

Best, who celebrated her 12-month sobriety date on Aug. 27, is currently living in a sober house.

The couple, pictured left still addicted to meth, and right nearly three years sober, said if the post helps one person it'll be worth it. (Courtesy of Brent Walker)

The couple, pictured left still addicted to meth, and right nearly three years sober, said if the post helps one person it'll be worth it. (Courtesy of Brent Walker)

In similar headlines, a couple in Tennessee recently went viral for sharing their sobriety story by posting a photo taken during the depths of their meth addiction alongside a current photo of them in recovery.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Brent Walker had posted the photo of him and his wife Ashley as part of the “#CleanChallenge” and said the addiction photo was taken in late 2016, shortly after he was released from jail.

“This is my wife and I in active meth addiction[,] the first was taken around December 2016 and the second one was taken in July of 2019,” the now-30-year-old wrote in the July 26 post. “This December 31st will be 3 years we have been clean and sober and living for God. I hope that my transformation can encourage [an] addict somewhere! It is possible to recover!!”