Sober Motivation: Sharing Sobriety Stories - Mike's Liver Failure Story And Early Warning Signs

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

Jerzey Mike rode the alcohol train all the way to the last stop. A liter of vodka a day, yellowing eyes, a coma, and doctors who weren't sure he'd make it. In this raw and deeply honest conversation, Mike walks us through the earliest warning signs of liver failure, what life looked like at his absolute worst, and the shame that nearly stopped him from getting help. If you've ever wondered how bad it can really get — or if you're quietly wondering whether you're heading down this road yourself — this episode is for you. Mike survived the last stop. He's sharing his story so you don't have to go there.Mike On IG: https://www.instagram.com/jerzeymike/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mike woke up one morning, looked in the mirror and his eyes were glowing yellow. In that moment, Jersey Mike knew he was dying. And instead of calling for help, he grabbed a drink. This is one of the most powerful conversations I've had on the podcast yet. Mike rode the train to the last stop. Liver failure, a coma, losing himself completely, and somehow found his way back. Not just to survive, but to live. Although Mike got off at the last stop, he shares his story so you don't have to.

And this is me catching up with Jersey Mike on the suburb. Motivation podcast. Welcome back to another episode. Today we got Jersey, Mike, who's going to share with us his experience of going through liver failure. How you doing, Mike? I'm doing great, Brad. Thank you for having me back on, man. Yeah. I mean, every time something is posted about liver failure, whether it be on something that I put together or one of my guests or I see out there, it seems to get a lot of traction. And with your personal experience, I definitely wanted to bring you, you know, back on the show, back on the podcast to talk about what that was like for you. Walk us a little bit through this story too.

And what are some of the early warning signs and what was it all like for you? One of the earliest warning signs for me was my face getting flushed like red. at some point probably like 2015-16 and I would say that early almost like five, six years before my liver failure had actually occurred. I would turn all red when I was drinking periodically. It wouldn't happen all the time and I would feel like my face getting hot. It would be like a flushed feeling. That was one of the earliest signs and from there I had started like breaking out in hives sometimes throughout the years when I would drink, I'd start having like little bumps all over my body. And my body was like telling me early on, man, like chill. Yeah, from the

from drinking. Yeah. One of the other things too that I know because we've collaborated with a few videos, people always ask like how much were you drinking and what were you drinking? What's your response to that? Because one of my last guests was like, I really don't even know. I mean, I was so in denial. I wasn't tracking things, but what's your experience with that? Like, how much were you drinking? You know, when people ask me that I, what I really want to say is how much I was drinking may give you a feel or a perspective of what was going on with me, but it's not going to really help you in any kind of way.

There's no measurement that you can create or compare with me that if you stay under this amount you'll be safe. But I don't know exactly, but I can kind of round off because I was a liquor guy. I was a, you know, when I would buy a bottle, the majority of the time I would finish it. And if I bought a big enough bottle, I'd go through over half, which was like, you know, a jug, 1.75 liter. So at my worst, headed towards liver failure, for about a year, I was drinking about a liter a day.

Sometimes more, sometimes less, you know, it depended. But that I remember my bank account told the story. I was buying a leader a day. I used to get it delivered every single day in my house. So I have an idea like that. Yeah, a leader of what? Vodka. Vodka.

Oh, okay. What was it about vodka? Why vodka? I don't know. It sat with me well. It didn't give me that bad a hangover. Out of all the liquors, Hennessy, I black out, like dark liquors I would black out. I wasn't looking for that.

And vodka just, it seemed. to be the nicest to me. Yeah. And so that was pretty consistent for, you know, a year there. I mean, give or take a little bit. But I think that's an important point, too, that you mentioned there, too. Just because this is your story and this is how it played out for you, it doesn't translate, like, cleanly to somebody else's life.

I mean, there's a lot of other variables, I'm sure. I'm no doctor at all. But I've heard a lot of the stories and things vary. Some people, it could be a lot yet, a lot less, younger. You know what, one thing I wonder, Mike, with all of this is, I wonder if this was a big conversation, call it 20 or 30 or 40 years ago for somebody to have, say, cirrhosis or liver failure. It's sort of a lifelong drinker, you know, maybe somebody in their late 50s or 60s or

70s. And now maybe we're seeing it where people are a lot younger. Like, do you think that's a thing at all? I mean, because you're the one who's lived it. That's a thing. And I hear it from people all the time when I post videos. There are so many people in their 20s, 30s, 40s having liver failure. I even heard of a story at the hospital recently when I went to go do blood work of a 17-year-old girl who passed away from liver failure.

And she had been drinking for a year. It's just the way her body reacted to the alcohol. Like, there are so many variables. You can tolerate alcohol in your early 20s and not tolerate it so well in your 30s. It's like there's just too many factors that play a role in how your body will respond to alcohol. Yeah. Yeah, because I feel like it's coming up a lot. And I had another guy, Will, I think you know Will, right?

I had him on the podcast and I was talking with him many moons ago. But I said, like, looking around when you were in the hospital for all of this stuff, like, what ages of people were you seeing? Like, man, I saw a lot of people that were like in their 30s just like me. And I feel like that, I don't know. Like I mean, maybe it just wasn't on my radar, but I feel like that wasn't as much of a thing from before too. I mean, just those stories too, you know, you hear that part as well. What are some other big questions you get when you post sort of your experience with this, you know, on Instagram? Like, what are the top two or three questions?

The top question is always how much did I drink? And a couple of other ones are, how long did it take you to recover? How did you recover? And like what medications were you taking? Usually people are looking to sometimes compare my experience to their own or someone that they love. And they're looking for answers, whether it be, you know, meds, lifestyle. out and they're looking for information. Yeah.

And maybe hope as well that things could get, things could get better. I mean, the first question, we kind of already answered your experience with it, like how much were you drinking? I mean, that is like probably by far the most asked question.

But why do you think that is? Like, why do you think that that's the one that pops up the most? Because I think, in my opinion, when people see my videos, they reflect immediately on themselves. And I think one question that comes to mind to them is, have I drink too much? Have I, myself, drank too much?

And am I in any danger? You know, pointing them in the direction to be like, let me ask him how much he's drank, maybe get a little bit of confirmation that I'm okay, I'm in the clear. or they just genuinely want to know what it takes to get to that place. Yeah. Yeah. I think there's a lot of truth to that. I would be curious, though, if you ask sort of a dozen people that have went through this,

that same question, how much it would vary. I mean, we don't have a dozen people right here to ask, but I think, like, what you mentioned earlier, like, there's other stuff, other things at play as well. It's not... you have six beers, you know, for six years every day and X happens. You know, it's a strange thing, man. I was talking with somebody else on the podcast too, and they're like, you know,

in the denial phase of all of this, right? That guy over there, he drinks way more than me and she drinks a lot more than I do. But I was just like, why don't we, you know, when we're in it, why don't we ever look at the people who drink a lot less than us, you know? We don't. It's not like, hey, Sally's drinking a lot less or Joe's drinking a lot less, so I should cut back. We always seem to find the people that maybe are drinking more or whatever and kind of compare there.

So that could be kind of going on. I remember from, I mean, we've known each other for years now, you know, through Instagram and everything. But I remember how surprised it seemed you were when things took a turn, right? One day you were good to go. The next day you wake up, you look in the mirror and your eyes are yellow. So walk us through that story a little bit and that experience and what that was like. Yeah. I thought I still had time to get out of the situation I was in.

I had taken off work and I was home trying to wean off alcohol. I was literally trying to drink a little less every day and seeing if I can get back to a stable place. and while I thought I had time, I literally woke up one morning and looked in the mirror, man, and my eyes were like glowing. They were glowing. They were yellow. I freaked out. My heart dropped and my heart just fell.

And I knew I was dying when I saw it. And then I just, I was delusional. I'm like, this isn't right. The lights are messed up. I'm looking at different mirrors, going to different places in the house, hyperventilating, and I fell to the ground crying and came to a little bit of a place of acceptance of what was going on while I was drinking. You know, like I went to grab alcohol or drink while I realized this, had this whole realization. And then, you know, convinced myself I could still get myself out of this place.

You know, let's try to drink more water and order some Amazon supplements and get some milk this all. And, you know, we're going to be all right. Mike, and I just completely lied to myself. Yeah, it was a lie. Of trying to do all of this. What was preventing you in that moment? Like, from reaching out for any sort of help or, you know, I mean, going to a hospital, I think now, I mean, you look back and you can kind of see, right?

Like, there was a fork in the road and you went this way with it. What about somebody who's out there and they're kind of secretly hiding this or living with this right now? like what are your thoughts? For me it was shame and fear. I was in fear of losing my kids. I was in fear what the situation of trying to get help, what situation that would create. And the shame, the shame was heavier than the fear.

The shame had me in a place where you know i was wearing sunglasses at home and answering the door with sunglasses i i i was in like a hopeless place and i know i could have just called 911 and went and got help but uh call it pride ego i i couldn't face it i i kept saying that i'll figure this out alone i got this i was convinced delusional and convinced that i i could i could get out of this myself Yeah, and when did that change? When my mother had called to check on me and had an ambulance come from me, whether I liked it or none,

I was kind of non-responsive. I wasn't making sense, and I was on the floor kind of unable to get up. My son had found me like that in a bedroom in the house, so help was called for me, even though I didn't want it. Yeah, and even I remember, remember you kind of sharing a little bit of that story too of going through that and being in that spot where they're like you got to go to the hospital but even then you know and not wanting to

go when you look back at all of it i mean the shame element of it in the fear of you know what could come from all of this um how did it all play out i mean did any of that stuff that you were kind of worried about play out in your life no no nothing everything i worried about did not play out the way I was worrying about it. Everything played out a million times better than it could have because my situation finally caused me, forced me to face myself whether I liked it or not. And that put me in a place of sobriety for a while in that situation and clarity where I was able to kind of fight, fight for the things in my life that I wanted and nothing placed. played out the way I was thinking.

And, you know, sometimes I, it hurts. And I, I reflect in my head. And I think of all the years I've cut off in my life, how I affected my kids, how I affected my family. And all I had to do is just get help. And it's fucked up with me alive. It could have been way more fucked up with me being dead. And all because I, I couldn't face myself.

Like, you asked before, what would be my advice? to someone in that situation, I would say, and I hate to be brutally honest, but if you can't beat the shame, you know, look at the consequences that are going to come from your death, because most likely if you're refusing help and refusing to change, it's a tough spot to be in alone and you might not escape from it. So those consequences need to be understood that that's what comes with it. I don't know if I fully understood because I was kind of out of my mind. But, you know, it's a scary place, man, to lose your whole life because you just don't want to ask for help.

And it's not worth it, not worth it. Yeah. Yeah, thanks for that too. I mean, I think that that does become the reality for it. You know, I mean, you continue on the path and then that's the reality for it. Going through all of that, too, I mean, your mom too, I, you know, I always love hearing about your mom, man. I mean, your biggest fan, you know, in this journey of things for you. You know, and turning things around and I even remember you sharing a couple videos, too, of you, you know, being at the hospital with your family and stuff.

and in, you know, sort of the, saying that there's nothing we can do. We don't know if this is going to get any better in your situation too, and you've shared a bunch of videos on Instagram, you know, what that looked like. I mean, look completely different. You know, what's all of that like to look back on and even as you were going through it, what you remember?

It's beautiful to me, you know, to others. It might be criticized in their opinion of, you know, my demise by my actions and the add but to me it was it was beautiful and I know to everybody else around me it was hurtful and it was painful but ultimately you know what used to be so shameful to me is now beautiful to me it's like what I hold close it's what I'm proud of

and to my mom it is too to the people that were you know are closest to me that love me it's beautiful to them too no matter how hard it was no matter how difficult the pain was where I'm at today for the ones that love me

my story sits with them like that I feel like you know they suffered with me so you can you can turn your shame into purpose and beauty and be proud of yourself yeah

yeah beautiful man did you ever think you'd get to that to that point never Never. Never. Yeah. You bring up another thing there, too, about, you know, outsiders' perspective on, you know,

sort of the million-dollar question. I mean, how could you let it get to where it got? What are your thoughts on that? Like, for somebody who just doesn't understand addiction or how all of this could possibly be a spot where you could end up, like, what would you say to that? I would say that, for me with alcohol alcohol was like it was a place that I could go cope it was something that

that I could go numb and retreat and hide for a little bit the issue is while you're hiding there your problems are stacking up and life is still moving and you start to lose track of time how long you've been hiding and how long you've been numbing and the world is collapsing around you as you're navigating and things are getting more difficult because that's what alcohol is going to do. It's not going to make your ride easier. It's going to make it more difficult. And by the time that you look at your watch and say, what the fuck is going on? A lot has happened that's already hard to control. You're already down the hole. And when you're down in the hole, you start to lose hope. I did. And it's like a fluctuation of...

I want to get out. I don't want to get out. I'll still be fine. And this losing track of time while life's falling apart, it happens faster than you think. Things get bad fast, especially while you're spending, you know, 50, 60% of your time outside of work or away from your kids, just numbing yourself. You're here only half the time. So it's a slippery slope and it happens faster than most people think. the next thing you know you're drinking every day, you're shaking and you're hiding, hiding alcohol. And soon you're hiding yourself from the way you look and all these different things. So I'd say don't judge, don't judge others, you know, like really understand that everything

could go really fast for not only the people that you're seeing going through this, but for yourself as well. Yeah. And that's a, yeah, that's a really good point. I mean, it would be hard to kind of look at the other side of things. I think where people come from that criticize, you know, different situations or people that struggle. I mean, I think you have to ask yourself,

would anybody actually wake up and just say, well, today's the day where I'm just going to start drinking every day because everything is good. Like there's obviously stuff going on below the surface that I think if you take some time to get to understand what people are going through, then I'm not saying it's like, okay, green flag to them to drink, but maybe get a better understanding about what they're going through and what they've been through up to that point. And also, it's a highly addictive substance.

Like, the most dangerous one in the world that impacts the society. Absolutely. Just glamorized and on billboards and on TV and promoted as some sort of fun escape from this stressful world we live in. But every time we lean into it, we lean less into healthy things, right, that you've developed sort of on the flip side of this journey. When you're in the hospital and everything,

how does that feel for you? Not knowing where all of this is going to go or if any of this is going to improve for you. I felt safe. The hospital was like a safe place to me, man.

I felt safe from myself. So for me, the hospital was, for some people, it's scared. For me, it was like I thought I was safe. I could have fuck myself up. And I didn't want to leave there. I getting emotional because I remember COVID had landed when I woke up. And they were like forcing me out of the hospital.

They're like, listen, you got to go because if you stay, you're going to die. If you get this virus. And I begged them. I'm like, please don't send me home, man. And I felt really, really safe and comfortable there. For others, that experience might be scary. But for me, I don't know. I was very content and I was very grateful through that whole hospital experience,

through all the scary parts. I guess the torture, like I put myself through, left me in a place where I had no fears in the hospital or no fear of really what was going to happen. I feel like I had put myself through such misery already that even dying, wouldn't have been as bad as the hell that I just put myself through. Yeah, with drinking. With drinking, yeah. Yeah, and how things were powerless, like out of control, you know,

just kind of going down this path, you probably had maybe moments of clarity, too, to realize, like, how bad things were and then sort of drowned it out or try to. Yeah, man, when you wake up from like a year binging episode, and then you can't walk and you can't do anything. And you're almost 100 pounds heavier than your normal weight and everybody's crowded around you. Like, you know, you're some, like, science project because with me and my age, the doctors were kind of using me

as, like, a learning experience for most of the students at Rutgers University. So every time a doctor came, he had, like, 10 people with them. Like, hey, Mike, you mind if I bring all these kids in so they can, understand what's going on. I'd be like, sure, there's no problem. I was actually happy to entertain him. I enjoyed the company. I was like, it was great.

How long were you in the hospital for? With my coma for about a month, but being awake, I was only there for about five days. As soon as I could move around with a walker, like, get up and sit down, they were like, you're good to go, go get out of here because of COVID. Yeah, wow, man. Yeah. A month, dude. A month.

Yeah. It took about like maybe another additional two months at home with physical therapy, everything to get to walk in and being on my feet. Yeah. Thanks for sharing that, dude. I mean, I always appreciate your vulnerability too. And you can kind of see moments where in one way or another, you kind of go back to maybe connect with how you felt or things in those moments. I mean, what's your big motivation, man, to share your story. I know I'm trying to remember this story vaguely how we originally connected,

but it was through Instagram and sharing your story. And then to see where you've come from then, which was years ago, to who you are today is just like, I mean, you made a huge transformation from hospital to that person I first met. And you've made another huge one from that person I first met to who you are today. What's the motivation behind you sharing about? all of this. The motivation is, I would say, like, the refocus of my energy that was so geared towards destruction with alcoholism now is, is focused and geared towards recovery. And the more I

share and help others, the more I help myself, the more that I connect with others, the more that also helps me. I want, you know, people to know all the time that anything I do when people thank me for, it's like, well, thank you too, because even, even us just talking, me and you right now, this, this is all like great, great energy for me to, to use in the positive direction I'm trying to go where in a past life, all I had was that energy for, for negative things and self-destruction. So my motivation is I need to do something with that energy. And for once, people can pull from my experience to not go through what I went through. And if I can help anybody, including even my own kids, to avoid that path, it just makes everything I went through

worth it. It speaks for itself. It's like it speaks on every addict's purpose that what you're going through is not something to be shameful of not something to wish never happened. It's literally creating the person you're going to become. And you'll be grateful for that if you get to the other side. Yeah. Well, you hit it out of the park there. I think at the end, too, is shame is what kept you stuck. The one element of it that kept you stuck. And now you're flipping that on its head by sharing your story and then in hopes out there that somebody can kind of get out of their own way, listening, whether it be on Instagram or YouTube or the other shows that you do, like somebody out there, just get out of your own way, get some help, and you can get sober and you can have a great

life. Yeah, man, it's the pain it forward. I mean, it feels there's no, no feeling like it, no feeling like it to know that someone going through what you went through is getting out of that. Yeah. And I mean, that is, that's, That's not really an example that I've ever picked up that you had getting into this, right, that you had saw somebody with that experience. Maybe it was, but, like, that's important to you to pay it forward. Yeah, I didn't see anybody or anything other than the side of myself that I had to face even after my coma, right? Like, we've talked about it before in another episode.

I drank. I drank after my experience. I got better. And six months later, I was out drinking again. And to get out of that, I found purpose and strength and sharing my story. And I remember when I put it out there, I had a really small group of people looking at my stuff. And I can't remember exactly how you came across it either. I remember when you did and when you shared it, it was like, it was a, it took off. And it was beautiful because I didn't stop drinking at that time. I was still trying to be in moderation. And what you did for me and sharing my story and giving me your friendship, man, and time and talking about stuff ultimately led to my sobriety, like, brought me to a place where I'm like, this is where I want to be. This is what I want to do.

and this is where I feel good and changed my life, change the whole trajectory of my life. Yeah, I'm going to cry, man. Which I think is so interesting, right? Because then you come back, I mean, you drinking again is kind of coming back to a big part of, you know, the first, what you went through the first time of shame, right? Like, because now I can only imagine, right? that's weighing on you look i've went through all of this stuff if people find that i'm drinking again

that's not going to make any logical sense for anybody else what you know right well you so you know what i did into my my approach to to to change that was okay so i'm going to share everything on my stories which when i went on my drinking my drinking madness after after having had liver failure i shared it all and i had no shame it was like my first foot in the door of not caring anymore what other people thought. And, you know, family members, friends see me on Instagram drinking and they're like, Jesus Christ, what's wrong with you? You were just in a coma. You were dying six months ago and you're out having a drink. What the hell's going on? And I'm just like, don't worry about it. I got it. And of course, I didn't have it. And I started to

get sick again. But I had resolved the shame part. I was like, I don't really, I don't care what anybody thinks anymore like this is about me it's not about you know this is my life you know that that i'm playing with here it's not anybody else as i'm gambling with my own and um it's really it somehow that that was part of my twisted way of getting to where i'm at today which i don't recommend anybody doing it was just stupid decisions that that that led me to the right place again the answer to this to me and and it should be for others is that your shame is your power you empty your closet you have nothing to hide and you take acceptance and accountability for your actions and your issues and start to work on them work on them and then nobody can

fucking say shit their opinion doesn't matter because you already know you're sitting right with yourself because you're doing the right things and that's that's all that matters is you're sitting right with yourself that's it yeah and with some work, you know, getting there and getting to help and some support along the way. Yeah, I mean, you can't, you can't force anybody to change, right? I mean, it's hard enough to change, you know, even if we want to. That's difficult enough to get sober. It's difficult enough at times even if we want to.

So people can't, you know, force other people to change. With that being said, though, looking back, was there anything? that could have been done differently, or did you just need to go through what you needed to go through? Unfortunately, for me, I needed to go through what I went through. And it almost cost me everything. And it did cost a lot. It cost a lot on my family, my kids, my life, my health, my longevity. It costs. I paid a price for all of this. But I needed to go through what I went through to be where I'm at today. And I hope that at the very least, you know, for others that don't want to go through what I went through, that they can take from that experience and realize you can pull from it, you can get to the other side without having to cause such hell and destruction on your body and your family. Yeah. Interesting enough, your response is what a lot of people share.

like it's just that there's that thing and everybody says a little bit different obviously but a lot of people share that too like they they had to have something happen or some sort of clarity or spiritual experience of some sort based on the actions they were doing for them to you know see things differently and see that they needed to sober up and I think people live in like the denial aspect of things, right? Like there's probably going to be one or two people that listen to this that are just like, no, I mean, it's just my story's unique. Like my experience is unique.

And although there is uniqueness in all of us, I mean, I've done 260 of these episodes of people giving up drinking. And let me tell you, they all sound a lot alike in one way or another. You know, I mean, the circumstances and how people kind of go about things, they're obviously different, but the sequence of events are really close in a lot of stories. What would you say to anybody, Mike, who might identify, hey, maybe I'm heading down this path or like maybe this could be like my story someday. Like what would you just say to somebody if they came across this randomly?

That you should get help. You should get help. You will either pay with you. your health or time or life to learn the hard way. And you should be smarter than me and smarter than a lot of others that have went down the wrong road and didn't look for help. And if you think you need help, you most likely do. You should get help. Yeah, beautiful. Get some support and talk with people, at least start the conversation. I know that Mike talks to a lot of people all the time on Instagram too and just to, you know, listen, I think that that's, you know,

big part of what it's all about, right? That you're not alone with whatever it is that you're going through and I'm not alone with what I'm going through. And, you know, together we can kind of get to where we want to be as opposed to just staying stuck. People get stuck in this for decades, man. And I think what you said there too is like time or the element of it kind of fades away. And you might look back and say, man, where did the last 10 or 20 years go? Getting out of a position like you were in, no matter when you do it, it's going to be difficult. It's going to be tough. But sticking around and doing it tomorrow and doing it the next day and doing it next year,

it's not going to ever make it any easier. Like, I don't know if the stars ever align for it to just be like, okay, today's the easiest day to get sober to quit drinking. let's do it. I think the best time is always like right now. Absolutely. Right now is the right time. And, you know, one other thing that I, to mention on that you brought up that I like is when you said that, yeah, our stories are like all different. And they are, our suffering and our injustices are all different. We all go through. and you know these things we all go through trauma suffering and injustices but we do self-destruct very similarly and you know it's like to not learn from one another to not take this knowledge and wisdom which we see others can provide from their experiences it's a you're you're

walking right right towards the the thing that's the thing that's It's going to kill you if you don't ask for help. And I promise today, back then I wouldn't ask for help. And today, that's all I do for anything I need in life. Like I literally reach out for things. And it's amazing how different life is like this than thinking that it's just you against the world. It's not. Yeah.

Yeah, so true. And I think at the end of the day, I mean, humans have a set of emotions, right, that we all kind of go through. I think as much as our stories are all different, we all kind of come back to that. Everything that happens around us has us feeling a certain way and then based on how we feel is how we act, how we behave.

So I think we're all connected in that sort of sense too of different things trigger it, events in our lives or experiences we have. But we all come back to sort of that we relate to and the self-destruction aspect of things. Yeah, it's interesting. and really appreciate the chat. Jersey, Mike, dude, I think it's such a, you know, I mean, you don't want this to be.

I don't anyway. I don't want this to be such sort of a really search topic. But I feel like there's a lot of things I don't understand, but for some reason it is. Some reason it is, and that just kind of makes me think there's a lot of people that are wondering, hey, is this where I'm headed? Is this where I'm at? and maybe it's time to get off the train. Maybe it's time to head in a different direction.

I always thought, man, this is going to sound really naive, Mike, in a lot of different ways. But I always thought, too, you know, you see in the movies, right? Everything's fixable, man. They go to the hospital, it get all patched up, you know? Things kind of, you know, it's not going to work. And then there's this miracle thing, and it always works out. And I wonder.

there's other people out there that are kind of naive, you know, in that sense as I was, that, like, of course, you can, you know, get a new liver. And of course, you can do this. And of course, that's a possibility for you. Like, of course, that you're going to get help. But from the stories I've heard, that's far from the actual reality of it, you know? It is very far from the reality of it, especially when it comes to your liver there. there are not many different things that can be done for you if your liver is is failing and if for some reason you are lucky enough that you suffer from liver failure and you can manage to stay clean for the six months that it takes to just get on the transplant list and deal with the hell that that

brings on you know will will went through that and He's a legend for that, man. I can't, that's not part of my story, this long ride waiting for an organ to survive. I can only imagine what that's like. That it's not like that. Doctors will look at you and say there's nothing they can do for you. And your liver will do what it wants. It doesn't matter what you're getting.

It might be helping the other guy down the room and his liver's failing and they give him something. It might work for him, but it might not work for you. Or it might be vice versa. It's just the same way everybody, their liver reacts differently to alcohol is the same way it does to medication. It's the same way it does to steroids that they give you for it. But ultimately, you fuck up your liver and it's going to be a torturous life and possibly, most likely a very torturous death. Nurses that see my videos all the time talk about them seeing young people dying, from liver failure and that it is one of the most gruesome sites ever when they're looking at

people suffering through that. Yeah. And there, yeah, I mean, I know somebody who's a nurse close to me that worked in an ICU for 30 years. And, yeah, said it's one of the worst ways to go out. That's what they told me. Well, thank you, Mike, for, you know, for sharing your experience with. this, you know, about this and about your life and being so vulnerable, man, and being so open

to talk about it too. I mean, just highlighting how you carry yourself completely different than living in the shadows before being out there, trying to help other people, building the awareness that this can happen. It's, it can happen kind of quick. I mean, it sounds like you had warning signs before, but sort of that big shift was from one day to the next of like, hey, you know, Now this is where I'm at. So thank you so much, dude. You got it, brother. Thank you for having me on, Brad.

Appreciate you, man. Yeah. Any closing thoughts? I love you, bro. Sober motivation, man. Help save my life, Brad. Until this day, you know, you've played such a major role in my life. I'll never forget it.

I'll always cherish our friendship. And you've been such a big support system through all the years that we've known each other in my sobriety, man, and my recovery. It's like, you know, you're my guardian angel in Canada, bro. You're my bro. I thank you. I love you on me.

Yeah, man, you too, dude. Thanks. Well, there it is another incredible episode here on the podcast. Thank you, as always, for listening along. Always great to catch up with my good buddy, Jersey, Mike. I've recently switched the podcast to another host, and some of you might have fallen through the cracks, but I could really use some help.

boosting things up. If you could drop a review on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you listen, drop a comment if you're on Spotify or YouTube. Just show a little bit of love for this show. That would be incredible on this episode and any other ones that you've checked out. It would mean the world and I'll see you on the next one.