When Katie Wood's mum Julie became an alcoholic aged 45, she battled desperately to pull her mother out of addiction.
But tragically, Julie died within just four years. And she is far from alone.
LEE RYAN OPENS UP ABOUT BATTLE WITH ALCOHOL: 'I WAS IN SELF-DESTRUCT MODE'
Over the past decade, alcohol-related have risen by 10 per cent- with 21,765 people dying in 2013. Figures also show it's middle-class professional women aged 45-64 who are now drinking the most.
Support worker Katie, 26, says: "Alcoholism tore my family apart and robbed me and my sister Hannah, 23, of our mum. Even when Mum was diagnosed with advanced liver disease and doctors warned her she could die, she couldnt stop.
"I'd come home and find her passed out in the bushes. She lost her job and was in and out of hospital... Alcoholism is a cruel illness."
Read more in Closer magazine, out now.