Last month we spoke to Harry Baines as he set himself the challenge of a month without drink. RICHARD CATTON caught up with Harry again to find out how tough it was to stay on the wagon and whether he feels better after a January of nothing stronger than tea and fruit juice.

CANCER survivor Harry Baines will be raising a glass in celebration today after successfully getting through the whole of January without touching a drop of alcohol.

Back in 2010, Harry, then 19, developed a lump from the bottom of his chin up the side of his jaw in just over two months. He was diagnosed with paediatric follicular lymphoma – a rare form of cancer.

After 12 sessions of intensive radiotherapy at Sheffield’s Western Park Hospital, he was given the all-clear. He now has check-ups every four months and has used his spare time to help Cancer Research UK.

The 22-year-old from Fulford, decided to take up the Cancer Research UK’s Dryathon Challenge at Christmas, when he realised the amount he was drinking was starting to creep up.

He said: “I think it was at the back end of last year when I started to drink a little more at celebrations and parties etc.

“I was talking to some of the women at Cancer Research and they told me about the challenge to stay sober and I thought it sounded perfect.

“My last drink was on New Year’s Eve – it was a spiced rum and coke. I remember it very fondly.”

So, for someone who was a weekend regular at his local and who enjoyed a glass of wine in the evening during the week, how easy was it to stay dry in one of the most miserable months of the year?

Harry said: “The cravings haven’t been too bad. When they did appear they could be quite bad but they didn’t last very long.

“I have been to the pub quite a few times and have only drunk Coke, so I suppose, if anything, my sugar levels will have been quite high.”

He said one of the short-term benefits of keeping off the booze was not walking up in the morning with a fuzzy head, but also having more energy.

“It’s made going to the gym a lot easier,” he said. “I’m not so lethargic and, of course, I don’t have the head in the morning.”

As he prepared to celebrate on Friday evening with a well-earned pint in his local, The Phoenix in George Street, Harry said he would definitely take up the challenge again. He also said that he suspected he would not drink as much as before once he did visit the pub again.

“It’s a good challenge for January,” he said. “And it makes you feel good about the coming year. I have spoken to a couple of people who tried it, but they said they had caved in, but did say they still didn’t drink as much as they did before.”