21 April 2023 , 11:16
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A mum whose alcohol addiction turned her eyes yellow is unrecognisable now that she's sober.
Jenna de la Cruz realised she had a problem when she couldn't fall asleep without having a drink.
She first drank alcohol at just 14 and described herself at her worst as a "broken girl" with yellow eyes and skin due to acute liver failure.
The now-32-year-old hasn't touched booze for 16 months after being warned by a doctor she would die if she continued.
Looking back at old photos, Jenna says she doesn't even recognise the person she was.
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She joked that being an alcoholic in Salt Lake City, USA, is ironic being that it's the centre of the Mormon religion.
Jenna de la Cruz's eyes went yellow due to acute liver failure
The mum was told she would die if she kept drinkingJenna told the Daily Star: “Salt Lake City probably isn’t the first place that comes to mind when you think of an alcoholic and it is a perfect reminder that addiction doesn’t discriminate.
“When I look back at the pictures I am in disbelief that it got that bad.
“I don’t recognise that girl, I truly had become a shell of myself.
“I also feel so proud of myself for holding on and continuing to push forward in my recovery despite how sick and broken I was.
“It took a lot of strength to get through that period of my life and I’m really proud of that broken, yellow girl.
“When I first started taking the photos it was never my intention to share them.
Alcohol was a huge part of Jenna's life
She couldn't fall asleep with booze“People finding out about my alcoholism was my biggest fear. I started taking the photos to keep track of my eyes. I was devastated when my eyes turned yellow.”
She added: “If I continued to drink I 100% would no longer be here. I would be dead and my children would have to grow up without a mother and alcoholism would have been the legacy I left them.”
Jenna was in high school when she started drinking.
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Her first boozy session involved mixing cheap vodka with orange juice with her pals at an older boy’s house.
But she woke up in a garage covered in her own vomit.
She said: “That was my very first experience of the humiliation and cycle of shame that alcohol would bring into my life.”
Drinking daily became the norm for Jenna as she got older and it got to the point where she would throw up every morning and throughout the day.
Now after 16 months of sobriety she looks completely different
She healthier than everShe also suffered stomach cramps, IBS and her skin would break out in red and hot rashes.
And as well as alcohol harming her body, it also damaged her relationships.
Opening up, she said: “It has always been a menace in my relationships. I’ve done and said so many things that I don’t remember the next day.
“I’ve hurt a lot of people that I’ve loved very deeply. That is probably the hardest part to accept about my addiction.
“Alcohol impacted my relationship with my children. I wasn’t there for them the way I should have been.
“I think about all the time I spent self-medicating and wasn’t really there for them.
“Even though I was there physically, I was not present emotionally and mentally.
Jenna says now she wakes up each day so happy to still be here“My kids had to grow up faster because of my addiction and repairing those relationships is my priority and I know that it will take time and a lot of work.”
The turning point came when Jenna woke up one morning and was “completely yellow”.
She went to A&E and was told she had acute liver failure.
Jenna remembered: “The doctors told me that if I didn’t stop drinking I would die and I became so weak in that period.
“After being discharged from the hospital all I could do was sleep and drink so much water.
“I was too sick to drink alcohol and I could hardly walk, my skin was intensely itchy from liver failure and my hair began falling out in handfuls.
“I was in survival mode and drinking equaled death.”
Jenna avoids picking up the bottle now and she has since lost 70lbs.
She also said she has made “incredible memories” with her family from being sober.
And just the thought of alcohol now makes her feel nauseous and she said she was no longer physically dependent on it.
Concluding, she told us: “My life is 1000% better without it.
“I wake up every day before the sun and feel so grateful that I woke up.
“I am really proud of myself for all that I have overcome in the past 16 months.
“For so long I could never have pictured myself living without alcohol, let alone loving and living life to the fullest.
“I can’t go back and change my past but I can change my future.
“I am also very proud of myself for being brave and vulnerable enough to share a part of me and my story.
“It is really painful but I know it has the potential to save someone else from going as far down that path as I did.”