Success Story: James
My name is James. I came from a nice home in Harlan, Iowa. When I was about seven years old I remember having a lot of friends in our neighborhood, but saw a lot of fighting between my parents. To make things worse, we moved to another town away from my friends and everything I knew. My world turned upside down. I became very bitter and angry and didn’t want to make new friends nor did I know how. At the same time, I caught my older brother having sex with a kid from across the street. He and his friend threatened to beat me if I told anyone. Since he was older than me, I was scared. My anger and hurt continued to grow. Still, there was more violence at home, but now it turned against us kids, especially my older brother and I. I hated my brother at this time for the things he was doing and had to fight him off for also trying to molest me.
We lived in a trailer court and I knew some kids who smoked. One day two boys held me down and blew smoke from a joint in my face. I liked the way it made me feel. So I continued to try it again and again as all my problems seemed to vanish. I smoked with them often and no one in my family ever knew.
My brother and I were fighting all the time so my family decided I was a problem child and sent me away to a foster care group home. I kept acting up and I couldn’t get my family to listen to me about what was happening. I turned toward drugs and alcohol until it became an everyday habit throughout my teen years.
I met a girl when I was 17 and moved in with her. After a couple of years, she became pregnant but miscarried. I blamed myself for the miscarriage; I was sure it was due to my drug use. I felt so guilty I tried for a long time to kill myself with drugs. During all this time I had several different jobs but quit all of them. I also sold a lot of drugs to support my habit.
I continued to sell drugs, but things were ok. In 1994, I had a nice little house in north Omaha, a wife, a stepson and a little boy of my own. I was 29 and worked at the Douglas County landfill until one day I was shot at point blank range in a drug deal gone bad. I was shot in each leg so I couldn’t walk without crutches and was unable to work. My wife and I decided to move from our home to my mother-in-law’s house.
One day, I visited an old friend, and snorted my first line of meth. I ended up giving the guy my crutches. That was the first day I walked on my own, but it still hurt. The drug blocked most of the pain. A few days later I got a job at a grocery store doing night stocking and I eventually started selling meth to make extra money. It wasn’t long before an informant made a buy and I was arrested for possession with intent to deliver and sentenced to ten years in prison. I served time, got out on parole, violated parole, went back, served more time, got out, used again, got caught and went back to prison. By the time it was all over, I had served nine years, eight months. Just two months before being released I received divorce papers in the mail. I was devastated. My every dream shattered.
When I left prison, I felt hopeless and full of pain and sorrow. I went back to my old drug habit to crush the pain. In no time at all, I couldn’t even work temporary jobs because it interfered with my drug use. I started selling drugs again to make money. Before long, all I was doing was using drugs, so I stole things to support my habit. In 2004, I picked up four possession charges in Pottowatomie County in one week.
My lawyer got me a deal to enter the Stephen Center three-month program with one year of after-care. When I entered the program my health was so wrecked that I weighed 150 pounds, my teeth were falling out; I had sunken eyes, a scraggly beard and just the clothes on my back. I was hoping and praying that I could make it through this program. The judge gave me the incentive; either pass the program or spend 360 days in jail. I saw doctors, took prescribed meds, attended meetings, made some really good friends and even facilitated some meetings. The Stephen Center helped me see that I had a lot to live for-if I stayed off drugs! Everyone helped me, staff, volunteers and the other HERO’s. I learned how to deal with my life, one day at a time. It was hard, real hard, but I had help every step of the way. No one ever gave up on me.
After graduation, I moved into the Transitional Living program at the Stephen Center. To date, I’ve been sober for 18 months and am registered for school at Metropolitan Community College. My goal is to someday become a Drug and Alcohol Counselor. I do a lot of volunteer work in the kitchen with Betty and help with whatever the need is of the moment. I attend individual therapy one time a week. Through everything that I have learned by talking and working on my issues, I have the skills to help me cope.
I have a whole new outlook on life-one that I never had before coming to the Center. Thank God for the help and people that so generously put their time into changing and touching the lives of so many people! I am most definitely a changed man.
