Going From Athlete to Addict to Success
Anyone who has been paying attention to the news has been able to see that there is an opioid and heroin epidemic on the rise in our country. Many people who end up using heroin often started their journey towards addiction by receiving a prescription for painkillers from a Doctor. It has become an all too familiar and all too unfortunate issue in our society. Sadly, too many people do not make it out alive, and people die from drug overdoses every day. There is, however, hope for those at the mercy of these powerful drugs and there is a way out of the addiction trap. Many people have been able to overcome these terribly destructive and addictive substances. Here is one man’s story:
“My addiction played out in a stereotypical fashion with a splash of midday soap opera drama. Growing up I was the son most parents dream of having. I come from a large family with four older sisters all of which are very successful (never had a drug problem) and my two parents. I was never hit or verbally abused as a child, rarely, if ever, was I yelled at (unless I really deserved it) and I always knew I was loved and had a home. My family went to church most Sundays and I attended youth group on Wednesdays, I never went to bed hungry or had a day without being told I was loved. In the early years of my life, I thrived in my athletic endeavors and always did fairly well in school. I had, as far as sibling relationships go, a very solid relationship with my four older sisters. In high school I continued to thrive, friendships, school, and athletics seemed to all come easily to me. In 2006 as a sophomore in high school, I was poised to be number five on my parent's list of successful well-educated and well-grounded children.
In my sophomore year of high school, I, like many other adolescents at the time, began experimenting with marijuana and alcohol. I would drink and smoke marijuana throughout the week sometimes before, during and after school all while maintaining a respectable GPA and performing well athletically. In reflection, I can look back and see that those early years of experimenting with drugs were what initially set me own a path of heartache, police sirens and near death experiences. It was the summer before my senior year of high school that everything changed.
It was this summer that I, like so many other athletes, got my first bad injury and was prescribed my first bottle of OxyContin. Some men and women can take an oxy one day and not think about it the next, for me I took that first oxy and for the next five years of my life my every waking thought was filled with OxyContin, opiates and any other narcotic I could get my hands on. (This is where the Hallmark special starts) So I did it, I turned into a stereotype, I was officially the jock who never had to work hard for anything but seemingly had everything, didn’t appreciate it and then threw it all away for some drug. That summer I made the transition from a stupid teenager into stupid junkie without batting an eye or thinking twice.
Everyone reading this knows what happens next so I’ll spare you the details and give you the broad strokes. I fought with my parents and I fought with my sisters, I fought with my friends and I fought with my coaches, I fought with my god and I fought with myself. I fought until there was nothing left to fight about, I fought until no one was willing to fight with me. I dropped out of high school with one semester left; I quit playing basketball my senior year right before the season started. I quit taking care of myself, I quit going to church, I quit seeing friends, and I quit everything except that drug. I lived and breathed only for drugs; everything else was secondary to my animalistic need to use more and more.
In 2009 I entered into intensive outpatient therapy. In my IOP treatment, I did what most addicts do… I lied, I lied so much and so often that I even began to believe my own lies. I was after all the charming athlete that no one would have ever suspected of using drugs. I lied my way through several months of therapy until I had my family and everyone around me so convinced that my addiction was just a “slip up” that they allowed me back into the family circle and even offered to pay my way through college. The truth is I used drugs every single day during my attempt at IOP. I still lived to have oxy’s in my system and had no plans to quit, the only reason I played the part is because it was far better to live inside a large house and do drugs than it was to live on the streets and do drugs.
Fast forward to 2010. 2010 is the year that I discovered injecting heroin was a far better, stronger, cheaper and more effective high than simply smoking or snorting OxyContin ever was. From 2010-2011 I was an IV heroin addict as well as a college student studying of all things psychology and mental health. At the time I considered myself a functioning junkie waiting for the right time to quit.
Human beings are fascinating especially when it comes to understanding the difference between what people see and what they want to see. My father, to put it simply, is one of my heroes. The man will in all reality forget more about mental health and psychology than I could ever hope to understand. Despite all that education and all that experience, there was one thing that kept him and to a lesser degree my mother from seeing the truth that was plain as day to so many others. My father’s love for me hid the truth of my addiction from him for many years. I was and am his son and I don’t doubt now nor have I ever doubted that my parents love me as much as any parent could ever love their child. My parents love for me was and is absolute; no matter what I did they loved me unconditionally. With all that love inside they wanted to believe my lies, I know for a fact they wanted to believe so badly that I was doing well that they may have even lied to themselves.
My mother and father along with the rest of my family’s eyes were finally opened and their worlds were forever shaken mid-2011 when I was admitted to the hospital with a severe infection of the heart called endocarditis. Endocarditis is an infection of the heart valve that is most commonly seen amongst IV drug users. If not treated quickly endocarditis has a very high mortality rate. At my prime, I weighed 235lb at 6ft6in tall, upon entering the hospital with endocarditis I weighed roughly 128lbs. To save my life the Doctors had to place an IVcatheder (pick line) in my left bicep and feed it up through my arm until it was right next to my heart valve. I received IV antibiotics three times a day for three weeks in the hospital and was subsequently released from the hospital to continue my IV antibiotic therapy at home. My Doctors made me agree to abstain from drugs and alcohol letting me know that my body could not handle any more abuse I promised up and down that I would stay sober and was home before I knew it, right back in my old room, right back in the same environment that I had spent years using drugs in.
I returned home with two weeks remaining on my IV antibiotic treatment pic line still in my arm. In addition, there are the dumb things addicts do, the reckless and finally the near suicidal. I choose the third. Upon returning home I began injecting heroin and cocaine directly into my IV catheter. After two weeks of injecting heroin and cocaine almost directly into my heart my body finally gave out and I found myself in the hospital once again. How I survived the abuse I put my body through is something I suppose only God can answer.
My mother and father being the wonderful parents that they are started contacting treatment centers all over the country searching for something, anything that could save their only son’s life. In September of 2012, my parents got in touch with a counselor at the Narconon Colorado drug and alcohol treatment center. As soon as I was medically stable my parents gave me two options. Option one was living on the streets where I would die within the next 2-3 months without proper medical attention. Option two was checking into the Narconon Colorado long-term treatment program. Being the suburban-raised young man that I was the thought of being homeless scared me more than getting sober did. So finally on September 21st, 2012 I reluctantly checked into the Narconon treatment program.
I would like to be able to simply say that Narconon saved my life; however, that would not come close to describing what this program did for me. Narconon did something that no other program could do; Narconon gave me the ability to save myself! Throughout the Narconon program hour by hour, day by day, I learned how to face my demons, I learned how to trust again, I learned that I needed to leave the past where it belonged and above all else, I learned to love myself again.
Today I am not an addict; I am not even a former addict in long-term recovery. I am simply a man blessed enough to have conquered his demons, find the woman of his dreams and create a life for himself that any parent would be proud of. My life is not perfect or without its trials and tribulations but thanks to my faith, the love and support of my family, friends and the Narconon program I am confident that no matter how hard life gets I can handle it without ever having to depend on a foreign substance again.“
Kyle—Narconon Colorado Graduate.
