After trying to hide his chronic addiction to alcohol and the drug methamphetamine, comedian Willy de Wit had been clean for a month when he received a text message one night in April 2016. It was from a former supplier wanting to know if he needed anything.
The temptation proved too strong. Reasoning with himself that he could do one last hurrah with a quarter of a gram of meth and still continue on his path to sobriety, Willy was halfway through his third hit when he collapsed trying to get some water.
For 12 hours, he lay on his bedroom floor, barely breathing after suffering a haemorrhagic stroke.
“Without a doubt, my addiction caused me to stroke,” concedes Willy.
“Meth use increases the chance of having a stroke caused by a brain bleed by almost five times.
“At the time, I’d been working as a brand manager for a skin nutrition company owned by Suzy Heazlewood and she had arrived at my house the next morning for a scheduled meeting,” he recalls.
