Success Stories

Ron learned quickly he had an addictive personality when he was 11 and lost his finger in a boating accident. He took more pain medication than was prescribed and liked how much more social he was with his friends while under the influence. For him, the disease progressed quickly. At 16, he was convinced he couldn’t live a day without using some type of substance – marijuana, alcohol, prescription drugs, cocaine, etc. He quit playing football, changed his friends and dropped out.

After getting his GED and starting college, he got married and had a baby. He had to quit school in order to provide for his new family. He was divorced and married again quickly. Before he knew he had two more children, more bills and more responsibility. In order to afford his growing appetite for illegal and prescription drugs, he had to commit crimes stealing from neighbors. Two DUI’s and a drug possession charge landed him in jail on his son’s birthday. Yet he continued to put himself in situations that he morally never thought he would or could ever do. Ron admits, “I was scared. Scared of what might happen to me and what I might do to someone else.”

By the time he was admitted to the David Lawrence Centers Adult Detoxification program when he was 23, he was near death. He offers, “I knew if I didn’t stop I would I die. My family had started to withdraw from me and prepare for my death. I was bleeding internally from the more than 30 pills I was downing in a day, had a blood transfusion and that was still not enough to make me stop on my own.” He had a disease and needed help in order to get clean.

Call it divine intervention or just a loving family and supportive employer, but Ron was given an opportunity – get clean and sober and your job will be waiting for you. After just a few short days in Detox he began to feel safe, relaxed and clear headed and was able to admit he needed more help. He entered the Center’s Crossroads Residential Treatment Program where he began his new life of sobriety. During the month he was in treatment, he opened up his heart to his higher power and learned to look inside himself. He finally admitted that he was not only powerless over drugs, but to alcohol as well. He gained the tools he needed to stay clean and was put in touch with a support system in the community that would help him stay that way. He adds, “The help I got from David Lawrence Centers has meant everything to me and to my family. It was life or death for me and I don’t ever want to look back.”

Ron has been sober for over two years now and the company that stuck by him during his treatment recently promoted him to General Manager. Both are seeing the financial rewards of his hard work and his family has never been more proud.