- J
New website
My name is Will, however, most reading this can insert the name or names of friends or loved ones they know or knew who have battled the plague that is slowly and almost without notice taking hold in this country. I'm speaking of addiction. Not the addiction most think of when the word is mentioned, however much more dangerous form that in the last decade has claimed more Ives than in all the wars we have fought...combined!
For myself, I was starting medical school to achieve my lifelong dream of becoming a physician.
Newly married to the girl of my dreams, life ahead of me was beautiful. But the poison in my medicine cabinet combined with several surgeries and an ongoing medical condition led me to physicians who prescribed addictive pain medications. Quickly, my tolerance rose and I knew I was in trouble, but then again addiction only really happens to "street people" or people who party too hard & too long. I was the polar opposite.
I first lost my marriage (she saved herself from years of torment) and took "leave "from medical school to deal with my problem. I've yet to return. This disease is not one you treat like most other illnesses, get treatment and return home to life as usual. I was so naïve. So ignorant. Recovery often takes years just to reach a point of stability. After a year's leave of abcense, I never returned to that school. I lost my dreams, hopes, and plans. Long story short, I bottomed out in the elevator of an apartment building...found without a breath in my body. My heart had ceased. I was clinically dead. I lived because God was not letting me off that easy. He still had a plan for me.
Today, I am 4 1/2 years clean from the last abuse of opiates and attempting to follow His plan. And my cause is to reach young people before they find themselves in the position I was in. Through University and College campuses, high schools, and even speaking in medical schools, PA schools, even to nursing schools...anywhere I can get a foot in the door, I hope to speak to future health care providers on how to recognize drug seeking behavior, but more importantly how to help those who exhibit it....my mission is to visit every campus in the state, if not in the southeast, I possibly can.
The terrifying news today is the evolving trend in many college age young men and women. Adderal is the used to cram for exams, downers are used to counteract the stimulants, pain meds are harder and harder to find, so this evil evolves and heroin in many places is taking the place of the more strictly controlled opiates. However, the outcome is the same. The addict faces one of three ends: either you find a path out before you are destroyed by the chemical in your veins, or you end up in prison, or the ultimate progression lands you, or perhaps your son, daughter , wife, mother (this disease does NOT discriminate) 6 feet deep under freshly tossed soil.
I am raising money with a goal to reach every college and University campus in Mississippi to speak and tell my story and how I escaped and what to do should anyone who hears my voice ever finds the self in the position I was in. In addition, I would like to reach high school campuses as well. And as I stated, I hope to reach medical schools, PA schools,nursing schools, nurse practitioner programs, dental schools, even pharmacy programs. Also high school campuses and even churches- all with a perspective from a survivor, a helping hand to trust, and as an advocate of safer prescribing practices.
I have down a series of 45, 30, and 15 minute memorized testimonies and presentations I know to be impactful.
As for why I'm here asking for help... Any and all money raised will go towards transportation (gas money to and from speaking engagements), and if an overnight stay somewhere is required, simple accommodations and money for a meal is all I seek help in coming up with. I also plan to build a web sight where my speaking opportunities are published for you to review, even a section for receipts to be viewed to assure you all money is going where it is intended. In addition, testimonies of success stories will be posted...pictures, videos of live you have impacted and saved. And of course it will include a written story of my testimony along with a plan of action for what to do if a person finds the self in a questionable pattern of thought and behavior,AND a section for families of loved ones blindsided by news someone they love is affected.
Addiction is flanked and wrapped in MANY lies, but one of the earliest is the belief that addiction, chemical dependency, and substance abuse are all equal and interchangeable terms. Absolutely not true. If I had realized when I experienced withdrawal symptoms that it wasn't too late, my life may be drastically different. Dependency is characterized by increased tolerance to the medication and a feeling of being unwell when discontinued. It is a warning sign of a potential, full blown addiction if help from a specialist is not sought. Addiction itself is characterized by intense "cravings", not like how you crave chocolate or your morning latte'. Craving the way a suffocating man craves oxygen...and the addict will do most anything to get this drug of choice because in the mind it is as if this is a matter of survival. I could go on, but this isn't the platform.
Since 2002, when I fell to this disease, it has transformed from a character flaw that only weak minds fell victim to, to now being a disease defined as such by the American Medical Association which targets all ages, classes, stations in life, etc. and is NOT going away.
This will continue evolving, and your child or friend or loved one WILL know someone facing this. That brings me to my final cause. THE FAMILY. Most families are blindsided when their loved one either admits the addiction and asks for help or is confronted with that reality by much harsher means. "What do we do now?! " And the tragedy of addiction begins to spread outward affecting every member of the family and every friend of the suffering person. IT is a FAMILY disease. It will tear the addict apart and not stop until the family is torn apart. Therefore the second effort in my call to reach out is to reach families facing this or families that may in the future. By providing access to one on one guidance on the mind of an addict...by explaining that the loved one they knew is not the person before them spewing rhetoric and hate from their tongue only with one goal in mind: to say or do Anyang to obtain the chemical that controls their thinking. These families need just as much guidance and insight when the hurricane blows through. For a drug dependent person, there is no consequence as severe as the consequence of not getting the chemical in his or her body.
In closing, I want to share a young man's struggle. A young man whom I will not name, however, has story was very public at the time because of the highly reputable and powerful family he was from. The parents even published the story in the local paper at the time. He was the son of a very public figure here locally. In 2012 he was a student at Ole Miss. For this young man whom I'll call "T", it did begin recreationally with pot and such. Soon frat brothers and "friends" introduced him to adderal, opiates and other drugs . Quickly, he became addicted, and began selling and such to other students to fund his addiction. He began the spiral downward. Dropping out of Ole Miss and moving closer to home to attend a junior college. Still, no one knew ......not even a clue did anyone have about his problem, and his "problem" was dealing its perverse spell on the young man's mind. Sadly, the subject was (and too often is still today)too shameful to ask for help with. . He spoke of hope being a long gone luxury. His promising future was dissolved in the chemical warfare fought in his dark world. His faith was seemingly unresponsive, and it was clear to him there was not now nor would there ever be reprieve; certainly recovery was futile too. For "T" , the addiction had taken hold and the lies as well. Unimaginably persuasive and pervasive lies became truth in the dark place this young man had found himself. If anyone had reached him in time, his private struggle may have found a foothold based in TRUTH instead of perversions of the truth and plain lies from the father of lies.
Also please note first that ZERO dollars will go as compensation to me personally. Also know that any donation CAN be made anonymously if you rather do it that way. Also to avoid using your credit card online if that is a concern, contact me at [email redacted] for an address and who you can make a check out to.
I apologize for the diatribe, but my passion for this is clear. May no one ever have to bury a child to this disease again. May no one ever experience the loss of everything precious in their life to a chemical. May no more children grow up without a father or mother. And with God's help may there never be an innocent infant enter the world in withdrawals because his or her mother could not find a way out.
As soon as I can raise funds I will begin full time in this endeavor. A website will be built, and outreach will begin. A couple thousand dollars from people who believe , a commitment of my life and time, and the word from the mouth of a man who has been there and survived saves but ONE life....is that not worth it?!
Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance from those who will hear and see hope again.
-Will
My name is Will, however, most reading this can insert the name or names of friends or loved ones they know or knew who have battled the plague that is slowly and almost without notice taking hold in this country. I'm speaking of addiction. Not the addiction most think of when the word is mentioned, however much more dangerous form that in the last decade has claimed more Ives than in all the wars we have fought...combined!
For myself, I was starting medical school to achieve my lifelong dream of becoming a physician.
Newly married to the girl of my dreams, life ahead of me was beautiful. But the poison in my medicine cabinet combined with several surgeries and an ongoing medical condition led me to physicians who prescribed addictive pain medications. Quickly, my tolerance rose and I knew I was in trouble, but then again addiction only really happens to "street people" or people who party too hard & too long. I was the polar opposite. I first lost my marriage (she saved herself from years of torment) and took "leave "from medical school to deal with my problem. I've yet to return. This disease is not one you treat like most other illnesses, get treatment and return home to life as usual. I was so naïve. So ignorant. Recovery often takes years just to reach a point of stability. After a year's leave of abcense, I never returned to that school. I lost my dreams, hopes, and plans. Long story short, I bottomed out in the elevator of an apartment building...found without a breath in my body. My heart had ceased. I was clinically dead. I lived because God was not letting me off that easy. He still had a plan for me.
Today, I am 4 1/2 years clean from the last abuse of opiates and attempting to follow His plan. And my cause is to reach young people before they find themselves in the position I was in. Through University and College campuses, high schools, and even speaking in medical schools, PA schools, even to nursing schools...anywhere I can get a foot in the door, I hope to speak to future health care providers on how to recognize drug seeking behavior, but more importantly how to help those who exhibit it....my mission is to visit every campus in the state, if not in the southeast, I possibly can.
The terrifying news today is the evolving trend in many college age young men and women. Adderal is the used to cram for exams, downers are used to counteract the stimulants, pain meds are harder and harder to find, so this evil evolves and heroin in many places is taking the place of the more strictly controlled opiates. However, the outcome is the same. The addict faces one of three ends: either you find a path out before you are destroyed by the chemical in your veins, or you end up in prison, or the ultimate progression lands you, or perhaps your son, daughter , wife, mother (this disease does NOT discriminate) 6 feet deep under freshly tossed soil.
I am raising money with a goal to reach every college and University campus in Mississippi to speak and tell my story and how I escaped and what to do should anyone who hears my voice ever finds the self in the position I was in. In addition, I would like to reach high school campuses as well. And as I stated, I hope to reach medical schools, PA schools,nursing schools, nurse practitioner programs, dental schools, even pharmacy programs. Also high school campuses and even churches- all with a perspective from a survivor, a helping hand to trust, and as an advocate of safer prescribing practices.
I have down a series of 45, 30, and 15 minute memorized testimonies and presentations I know to be impactful.
As for why I'm here asking for help... Any and all money raised will go towards transportation (gas money to and from speaking engagements), and if an overnight stay somewhere is required, simple accommodations and money for a meal is all I seek help in coming up with. I also plan to build a web sight where my speaking opportunities are published for you to review, even a section for receipts to be viewed to assure you all money is going where it is intended. In addition, testimonies of success stories will be posted...pictures, videos of live you have impacted and saved. And of course it will include a written story of my testimony along with a plan of action for what to do if a person finds the self in a questionable pattern of thought and behavior,AND a section for families of loved ones blindsided by news someone they love is affected.
Addiction is flanked and wrapped in MANY lies, but one of the earliest is the belief that addiction, chemical dependency, and substance abuse are all equal and interchangeable terms. Absolutely not true. If I had realized when I experienced withdrawal symptoms that it wasn't too late, my life may be drastically different. Dependency is characterized by increased tolerance to the medication and a feeling of being unwell when discontinued. It is a warning sign of a potential, full blown addiction if help from a specialist is not sought. Addiction itself is characterized by intense "cravings", not like how you crave chocolate or your morning latte'. Craving the way a suffocating man craves oxygen...and the addict will do most anything to get this drug of choice because in the mind it is as if this is a matter of survival. I could go on, but this isn't the platform.
Since 2002, when I fell to this disease, it has transformed from a character flaw that only weak minds fell victim to, to now being a disease defined as such by the American Medical Association which targets all ages, classes, stations in life, etc. and is NOT going away.
This will continue evolving, and your child or friend or loved one WILL know someone facing this. That brings me to my final cause. THE FAMILY. Most families are blindsided when their loved one either admits the addiction and asks for help or is confronted with that reality by much harsher means. "What do we do now?! " And the tragedy of addiction begins to spread outward affecting every member of the family and every friend of the suffering person. IT is a FAMILY disease. It will tear the addict apart and not stop until the family is torn apart. Therefore the second effort in my call to reach out is to reach families facing this or families that may in the future. By providing access to one on one guidance on the mind of an addict...by explaining that the loved one they knew is not the person before them spewing rhetoric and hate from their tongue only with one goal in mind: to say or do Anyang to obtain the chemical that controls their thinking. These families need just as much guidance and insight when the hurricane blows through. For a drug dependent person, there is no consequence as severe as the consequence of not getting the chemical in his or her body.
In closing, I want to share a young man's struggle. A young man whom I will not name, however, has story was very public at the time because of the highly reputable and powerful family he was from. The parents even published the story in the local paper at the time. He was the son of a very public figure here locally. In 2012 he was a student at Ole Miss. For this young man whom I'll call "T", it did begin recreationally with pot and such. Soon frat brothers and "friends" introduced him to adderal, opiates and other drugs . Quickly, he became addicted, and began selling and such to other students to fund his addiction. He began the spiral downward. Dropping out of Ole Miss and moving closer to home to attend a junior college. Still, no one knew ......not even a clue did anyone have about his problem, and his "problem" was dealing its perverse spell on the young man's mind. Sadly, the subject was (and too often is still today)too shameful to ask for help with. . He spoke of hope being a long gone luxury. His promising future was dissolved in the chemical warfare fought in his dark world. His faith was seemingly unresponsive, and it was clear to him there was not now nor would there ever be reprieve; certainly recovery was futile too. For "T" , the addiction had taken hold and the lies as well. Unimaginably persuasive and pervasive lies became truth in the dark place this young man had found himself. If anyone had reached him in time, his private struggle may have found a foothold based in TRUTH instead of perversions of the truth and plain lies from the father of lies.
Also please note first that ZERO dollars will go as compensation to me personally. Also know that any donation CAN be made anonymously if you rather do it that way. Also to avoid using your credit card online if that is a concern, contact me at [email redacted] for an address and who you can make a check out to.
I apologize for the diatribe, but my passion for this is clear. May no one ever have to bury a child to this disease again. May no one ever experience the loss of everything precious in their life to a chemical. May no more children grow up without a father or mother. And with God's help may there never be an innocent infant enter the world in withdrawals because his or her mother could not find a way out.
As soon as I can raise funds I will begin full time in this endeavor. A website will be built, and outreach will begin. A couple thousand dollars from people who believe , a commitment of my life and time, and the word from the mouth of a man who has been there and survived saves but ONE life....is that not worth it?!
Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance from those who will hear and see hope again.
-Will