I was a middle child and life was good until the age of 8. I came home with a massive bruise on my arm but never remembered getting hit with such force to cause it. I was taken to the hospital and after having blood work done, I was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia. Cancer did not run in our family, and I was flown to the National Institute of Health to participate in a clinical trial for the drug that is now commonly used to treat this disease. After 3 years of treatment, life seemed to return to normal for our family.
That is until my freshman year in high school. One day I just felt sapped of all my strength. My folks took me to have blood work done and I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. It was very devastating to me and for the next 3 1/2 years, I went through chemo treatments. My entire high school years were the darkest and most painful of my life.

The first time I got sick, I was young enough to be resilient about it. The second time, I was just old enough to take it personally. I hated God. I hated my family. I hated the world in general. In my anger, I turned to drugs and alcohol to help me forget the trauma. The substance abuse addiction clung to me up until about a year ago.

My addiction took me across the country through a series of extremely bad and self-destructive choices. I got off a Greyhound bus in Dallas. I knew one person in Dallas, and he let me stay with him for about a week. I was entering my 4th month of an all-liquor bender and my body was close to shutting down. Then my friend told me about Soul’s Harbor. He called them for me, and they opened a bed for me. Little did I know that my life was about to change in ways I never thought possible. I was treated as a human being. I was told that I deserve to be free from addiction.

Soul’s Harbor staff and the guys in the program taught me how to win the battle one day at a time. I was loved, and the compassion I was shown was truly humbling. I have been sober for just over one year. My sobriety date is June 16, 2022. The healing and knowledge and desire to give back to guys who are broken, just like me, is all the proof that I need to know that Soul’s Harbor program works. The twelve steps work. I am a new man today, and I owe it all to the wonderful and generous people here at Soul’s Harbor. With my new family here, I will succeed. I will persevere, and I will be of service for the rest of my life.

God bless.