Help Chaser's Recovery

Chaser kicked a heroin addiction 21 years ago, when he became a father to his son, but replaced the heroin addiction with an alcohol addiction. Now that he's found the love of his life and is engaged to be married, he's ready to take the next step and kick the alcohol addiction.

We have found a wonderful rehab facility, the Pine Tree Recovery Center in Portland, Maine, which has a state-of-the-art program. Unfortunately, the program costs $10,000, and he has no insurance. They are willing to give him a big discount, but even so, we need to raise the funds to get him there and make this happen.

Every hour he spends in this place will cost in the vicinity of $20-$40. Can you help pay for even one hour of Chaser's recovery?

-- A Message from Tamarleigh --

I’m Tamarleigh, Chaser’s fiancée and the one who started this fundraiser to make it possible for Chaser to attend the Alcohol Detox Program at the Pine Tree Recovery Center. Since I am asking our community for help, I want to explain why it’s so important to me that Chaser attend this particular program instead of one of the more affordable programs–important enough that I’m willing to put this out there and ask for help in making it happen.

I need to warn you that this content (after this paragraph) will contain some disturbing images that will be too much for young people or some sensitive adults. Please do not feel obligated to read this. In a nutshell, Chaser has had a really hard time, and I just want this one difficult thing to be as easy as possible. If you don’t want to put yourself through reading more than that, I understand.

Chaser is probably the bravest and strongest person I’ve ever known. After a childhood of extremely violent abuse, he was kicked out onto the streets at age 14. He survived, and he even found someone to love and started a family. One terrible day, on the way home from a family outing at a Renaissance Fair, their vehicle was struck by a drunk driver. Their infant daughter was fatally wounded and died in Chaser’s arms, there on the side of the road. He was 18 years old. It was after this that he started using heroin to cope with the grief and trauma.

Two years later, just after his 20th birthday, with his second child on the way, Chaser’s community (the Boston punk community) helped him get clean–but in the most unpleasant way imaginable. Someone in that community (an older punk he didn’t even know well) took it upon herself to force him to detox. She kidnapped him and held him hostage in her home for two or three weeks, taking time off from work to watch him constantly and make him drink beer. Anytime he tried to leave, she would slam his head against the furniture or beat him up. When he was clean and she let him go, she warned him if he started using heroin again, she’d kill him. This was a very effective heroin detoxification program, but unfortunately, it simply replaced the heroin addiction with an alcohol addiction. His son, Zen, was born a few months later, and Chaser never touched heroin again–but he has been addicted to alcohol ever since (21 years now).

Now he is about to turn 41, and he’s found love again, with me. From the first day we met, something in my heart told me we would end up together. The more I got to know Chaser, the more I fell in love with him. He is one of the kindest, most generous, and most honorable people you’ll ever meet. For five and a half years, I have watched him struggle with alcoholism and tried to support his desire to move forward and quit drinking, without ever pushing sobriety on him. He has a little time off coming up in February, and he has decided that the time has come to take that step and get sober, because of his desire to be the best father and husband he can be.

Chaser has been working on trying to get Maine Care, and he just signed up for the Maine Mobile Health Program and has a Community Health Worker assisting him with the process, but for several reasons it’s not looking like it’ll happen anytime soon. His health is really suffering, and I don’t want to wait months to see if the Maine Care thing works out before he gets help. He’s got this time off in a couple of weeks, he’s ready to do this, and I want to make it happen.

We used the government websites to search for programs with a hospital level of medical detox and financial assistance available. One of the programs is the Pine Tree Recovery Center Alcohol Detox Program. Chaser spent a long time reading their website, and he got very excited about the program and eager to attend. I spoke to them about their Covid protocols and am satisfied that it’s safe (Chaser is at high risk for serious complications if he contracts Covid).

Unfortunately, the financial aid available there turns out to be very sporadic, and they don’t happen to have a grant for that right now, so knocking a huge chunk off the cost for him was the best they could do. I know this is a very expensive program, even at a discount, and we can’t possibly afford it. We looked into other programs, but the bottom line is that Chaser’s heart was already set on Pine Tree Recovery Center, and it means a great deal to him.

I am therefore fiercely determined to make this happen for him. This amazing human being has been through so much in life–this time, I want him to have the nice thing, the thing he wants. Giving up alcohol after 21 years is hard enough. I want him at least to be able to attend the rehab program he wants to attend, when he wants to attend it. Ideally, we can even raise some extra funds to support additional important health and dental care for Chaser. I know if everyone can give a little, we can do a lot. Thank you with all my heart.