A MORBIDLY obese drug addict turned his life around and lost 11 stone after being told he had six months to live.

By the age of 20, Jack Chitty, of Salisbury, had begun a high-flying career as a top property salesman in London.

But work pressures and a relationship breakdown caused his life to spiral out of control.

He got hooked on cocaine, ketamine and cannabis and developed a heavy drinking problem that saw him to balloon to a weight of 25 stone.

“Life was going well, but I was in full-on, active addiction,” Jack said.

“I tried coke for the first time on a night out, and after that it was just a complete free-for-all, using every day.

“You realise that you’re far more productive at work if you’re wired up. The more coke I used at work, the better my results were.

“I was just so determined to be the best and I put so much pressure on myself, and that was one of the biggest issues.”

Things took a turn at Christmas 2016, when Jack’s doctor told him either his weight, drinking or drug use would kill him within six months.

“That was a big wake up call,” Jack said.

Shortly afterwards, he asked his family to admit him to rehab, and later spend six weeks at Cloud’s House, run by Action for Addiction, in East Knoyle, near Tisbury.

When he came out, Jack decided to take a year off and focus on his health and fitness, and he has recently gone back to work.

On Monday, Jack, now 24, started a 240-mile cycle journey to help raise money towards further rehab programmes.

He hopes to raise £25,000, “to help fellow addicts through the same programme, people who are perhaps not surrounded by a loving family and the great good fortune I have had”.

“Rehab was the best thing I’ve ever done,” he said. “I’ve seen what it did for me, and I’ve been very lucky that we could afford to do it. The whole point of this ride is to give someone else the opportunity to do it.”

He set off from The Brink, a cafe run by Action on Addiction, in Liverpool, and will cycle back to the charity’s headquarters, where his own recovery journey began, in East Knoyle.

The ride is scheduled to end tomorrow.

Jack’s mum, Lara, said the whole family was cheering Jack on, and hoping that he not only raises funds, but helps to raise awareness that addiction is common to many families.

“We are so proud of how incredibly brave and courageous he’s being,” said Lara. “He is being so open about it, and he has been all the way through.

“This is about bringing it into the open, that actually there’s no shame in addiction, it’s a normal thing that sometimes happens.

“There were so many times I talked to people and they said they knew somebody who is an addict, but people don’t talk about it.”

And Jack said: “So many people think of a drug addict as someone on a park bench smoking heroin, and you always think, ‘Oh, it won’t happen to me,’ but it did.”

And Lara said family help was a key aspect in supporting a recovering addict.

“Ever since he admitted there was a problem we have all as a family completely supported him, and done everything we can.

“It has its moments, but one think I really remember was when we dropped him off at Cloud’s House was if the family is supportive the chance of relapse is much less, and greatly reduced, so we threw ourselves in to supporting him.”

Jack has now raised more than £13,000 for Action for Addiction. He said: “It’s unbelievable. I’m so grateful for the support of everyone, it’s just amazing.”

justgiving.com/fundraising/action-on-addiction