FIT FANS Helped Me like Myself Again After I’d Tried to Take My Own Life
In the hope it can help others, a brave participant from our FIT FANS programme wanted to share the story of how his anxiety worsened during lockdown and led him to attempt to take his own life and how Blackburn Rovers FIT ROVERS helped him like himself again. .
We have not used our FIT ROVER’s name to protect his identity.
“I had always suffered with anxiety and overthinking, however in normal times, playing football and seeing my mates was my escape. It helped me keep a lid on things.”
“Lockdown took all that away and without that coping mechanism, things started to get on top of me. To make matters worse, I had problems at work and for various reasons, my family life was difficult. Lockdown just magnified everything.
“I didn’t feel like people wanted me and things felt like they were spiralling out of control. At 3am one morning my anxiety would not let me find sleep and I decided that I’d had enough. I got up and took the car for a drive with the intention of taking my own life. That could have been the end but it wasn’t. My wife had noticed I had gone and had phoned the police. They found the car and took me home. What I found strange was, even after all that had gone on there, that there was very little help. It was almost like it hadn’t happened. I was still alive and trying to work through my problems, but it seemed like no-one wanted to help.
“That was about the time I saw the advert for FIT ROVERS. I’d wanted to lose some weight for a while and so my wife suggested I give it a try. I signed up for the programme, but just before the first session I got cold feet and decided I didn’t want to do it. I made up some excuse about work commitments and suggest they offer my place to someone else. However, Martin from Blackburn Community Trust rang me back. Martin didn’t know about my problems but he was adamant that regardless of ‘work commitments’ he could find a way for me to take part. I met up with him at my convenience that week and he did my measurements and reassured me that FIT ROVERS was ideal for me.”
“That’s when things changed. Martin had no idea of what I was going through but the fact he was prepared to take the time to get me involved made me feel wanted and valued again. I can’t really explain what that felt like other than it gave me hope.
Taking part in FIT ROVERS was the best thing I’ve ever done. The sessions and workouts are brilliant, but the camaraderie and banter is even better. I lost over a stone and a half but even more importantly, I feel like I’ve learned to enjoy myself again and that people like me, which has made me like myself again.
I’d be lying if I said I am where I want to be mentally…. but I’m certainly well on the way to recovery and FIT FANS has a huge part to play in that.”
FIT FANS is funded by Sport England through the National Lottery
