Reflecting On My Son’s Successful Recovery
Confusion, fear, and utter despair. This is what I felt 7 years ago when I found out our 17-year-old son, Ryan, was addicted to hard drugs.
Growing up, I thought he was just a regular kid, kinda moody, messy, lazy and a little crazy, but a good kid at heart. I suspected that he had tried some weed and pills sometime along the way. But hard drugs -no way, not ever. When we found out about the hard drugs we tried putting him in detox’s, a 30-day in-patient program, and 2 months in a sober living home. Thinking his addiction was no longer a problem, we brought him home only to discover he was using again…
During the above, my wife and I had started attending an Al-Anon support group. By listening to the stories of these struggling parents, and by the grace of God, I eventually came to the realization that there was literally nothing I could do to solve his problem. Some of these parents put their sons in a place called New Life House. They painted a very positive picture so we decided to give it a shot too.
After an intervention, we gave Ryan a choice to go to New Life or to live on the streets. He chose New Life. We brought him up here sight unseen, and quite literally dropped him off. Over the month’s he began to change. The transformation was incredible. Our once struggling son was becoming a young man who wanted to live life sober. And he was making good decisions.
At this writing, Ryan is over 7 years sober. For over the last 5 years he has lived on his own, is responsible, has integrity, has always had a job, is a hard worker and pays his own bills. He loves and is connected with our family. I am so grateful to God and New Life for saving our son. He has become a source of pride and joy for me when I think of him and the commitment and hard work he has done to stay sober.
Last Updated on May 24, 2022
