In 2021, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed that Aspire Doncaster, the publicly funded organization responsible for addiction treatment, received £5–6 million annually. Despite this, the number of people who actually received proper inpatient rehabilitation was shockingly low.
Shannon was one of many left behind — offered only basic medication and short consultations, but never the long-term therapy or structured recovery program she desperately needed.

She tried to get help countless times. She asked. She waited. She hoped.
But the system, instead of lifting her up, watched her fall deeper — and turned away.

In November 2024, Shannon was rushed to the hospital with severe pneumonia. The attending doctor said that a two-day delay in calling an ambulance could have cost her life. She survived — but only barely. Her health crisis became a symbol of a much wider failure: how people battling addiction are treated as statistics, not as human beings.

Every week, she receives help from a close friend who buys her food, helps with clothes, and makes sure she has what she needs to survive. Shannon remembers his phone number by heart — she calls whenever she’s in trouble, even if she has lost her phone.
This bond, simple yet human, shows what real support looks like — something no bureaucratic system could ever replicate.

But Shannon’s story is not just about her. It’s about a systemic failure that costs lives — a structure that hides behind numbers while people disappear on the streets of Doncaster.
The Shannon Project was created to expose this injustice — to show that addiction services are broken, mismanaged, and often manipulated for statistics rather than for real outcomes.

Shannon’s name now stands for something larger:
for accountability, compassion, and the right to be seen as human — not forgotten.

📢 Why We Tell This Story

We tell Shannon’s story not to evoke pity, but to demand change.
Her experience is shared by countless others who have been abandoned by the system.
Our goal is to bring public attention, transparency, and reform — so that no one else has to fight alone for the right to live with dignity and hope.

From Letters to Action: How the Shannon Project Was Born