ALCOHOLIC liver disease is rising every year in the UK but it is not just alcoholics who are suffering, as Ringwood resident Phil Cameron found out to his cost.

Mr Cameron, 43, of Anson Close, had never given his drinking habits a thought, he just enjoyed a couple of pints after work or went out with friends at the weekend, but one night two years ago he woke in the night and vomited blood.

The father-of-three, a telecommunications technical analyst, was diagnosed with cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver, and his family were told to prepare themselves for the worst as he fought for his life.

He endured months of gruelling, invasive medical treatments and now he has just 20 per cent function in his liver, has been unable to return to his job and suffers from confusion, lethargy, memory problems and a lack of libido. He takes four different medications every day.

But rather than feeling sorry for himself or thinking about what might have been Mr Cameron is trying to help others, through working with Ringwood-based charity The British Liver Trust to highlight the dangers of too much alcohol.

He said: "It is very pervasive in our society and it is socially acceptable. If masses of people were shooting up heroin then there would be an outcry but more people die every year from alcohol than from heroin or cocaine.

"I was drinking more than the recommended amount but when you are in a pub everyone is drinking and there is always someone who drinks more than you. If you say you don't drink people look at you as if there is something wrong with you. I had no worries about the amount I was drinking and no idea anything was wrong."

Each year in the UK about 3-4,000 people die of cirrhosis and a further 700 have to have a liver transplant to survive, an eventuality that Mr Cameron might still face in the future.

He has not touched a drop of alcohol since his diagnosis and says he doesn't miss it - but there can be little doubt the UK's binge drinking culture, along with cheaply available alcohol and the social acceptance of drinking mean many more people will suffer as he has in the future.

Mr Cameron has agreed to speak out about what he has been through and the effects of what is still a largely misunderstood and taboo disease, to try to make others think about their own actions.

"I have never once said why me?'. I can't change what has happened in the past but I can change the future. I don't want to preach and people have to make their own choices but if I can effect just one person not to end up where I did then it will be worth it."