I started drinking at age 13, by the age of 14 I was drinking in pubs.Daniela had never drunk vodka before, so it took less than an hour for the half-bottle of spirits to render her unconscious on the floor of her best friend's hallway.
She and her friends had been left alone for the first time in a family home to celebrate a 15th birthday party.
The shocked parents of the birthday girl returned just in time to see Daniela being rushed to hospital in an ambulance to have her stomach pumped.
One of the youngsters had put the public schoolgirl in the recovery position when she passed out, and then dialled 999. It probably saved her life, according to the paramedics who carried her out on a stretcher.
'It was utterly horrifying,' the mother of the party hostess told me. 'These are the sort of children who write thank-you letters to their grandparents at Christmas.
'They came back the day after the party with chocolates to apologise. That's how nice they are. They work hard at school and definitely don't do drugs. So how could it have happened?'
It happened, as the parents of too many well-heeled teenagers can attest, because of the teenage trend for drinking vast amounts of neat vodka - fast. And it's having devastating consequences for young girls in particular.
I know all too well how prevalent this problem has become because last month we agreed to have our first - and our last - house party for our 15-year-old daughter.
Unknown to us, one of the guests had smuggled in a bottle of vodka bought from a local shop.
We had agreed to go out before the party started and leave the 20 teenagers alone for two hours before returning to stay upstairs (in case of trouble) and bring the party to a close at 11.30pm.
We had banned alcohol, though we expected that a few bottles of beer might be brought in behind our backs.
The party ended after just 60 minutes, when we returned home early after an anguished phone call from our daughter.
Girls in need of hospital treatment because of alcohol poisoning outnumber boys by three to one, according to Home Office Statistics.
More than 100 girls a week ended up in hospital last year after binge-drinking, with 4,939 girls aged between 14 to 17 being seen by doctors for alcohol poisoning over the past five years (compared to 1,776 boys) - an increase of 90 per cent since 2003.
Vodka is Britain's favourite spirit. Sales have tripled in the past five years because it has become 'cool' among the young.
The problem is that it can be 40 per cent proof - compared to wine, which is 13 per cent.
'Vodka is cheap - a 70cl bottle can be bought for £5 - and it's easy to get,' says Professor Roger Williams of University College, London, the country's foremost liver expert.
'It's being cleverly marketed with words such as "pure" and so it seems glamorous and safe.
'Teenagers also think it's easy to disguise and more difficult to smell on the breath.
'But it can be lethal if taken in excess. Vodka gets absorbed into the blood rapidly. It can cause arrhythmia, cardiac arrest, even sudden death.'
The drinks market is full of new brands of vodka, most of them aimed at young women.
There are designer-label fashion vodkas from Louis Vuitton and Roberto Cavalli, as well as the blush-rose-coloured Pinky and Diva, which comes with coloured crystals dangling in the bottle.
Girls in need of hospital treatment because of alcohol poisoning outnumber boys by three to one, according to Home Office Statistics
Marketing has helped vodka take centre stage in the nightclub, party and pop scene.
Product placement and celebrity endorsements have secured its position as a glamorous drink for the young generation.
'Vodka has done extremely well at keeping the category contemporary and exciting,' says Michelle Strutton, senior drinks analyst at Mintel.
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(I was banned from my favourite pub at age 18, when I asked the landlady for a free beer to celebrate my birthday. I'd been drinking in there for three years, she wasn't best pleased.)
Hatch has shown no inclination to drink at all, and refuses a glass of wine with celebratory meals.
The only time I've seen her under the influence was on Hen's fortieth birthday meal, when the brandy from her flambe'd desert had not been flamed off totally.
My godsons were allowed a bottle of beer or glass of wine with Sunday lunch from the age of 14.
My mate's daughter (Hatch's age) and her friends share a bottle of 5% proof fizzy drink on Saturdays under parental supervision.
Kids and booze, your thoughts?