"If there is any interest in learning more about my substance use disorder and how I overcame this to live this beautiful life I experience now, I would be happy to offer much more if I can give anyone hope where there seems there is none."

I am 48 years old. I have been incarcerated more than 20 times. Some of the arrests were in Florida, and my mug shots are available at mugshots.com. All of the other arrests are in New York where my fentanyl and crack addiction reached its pinnacle. I became homeless in 2007. I stayed at the Salvation Army for six months, lived on the streets, and spent many weeks at the Open Door Mission (a shelter with services for people experiencing homelessness). I found a way to sleep on a friend’s couch and got a night shift job and went back to college during the day.

This is why I am sharing my story. At the moment, I am a miracle in many ways. I am married with two awesome, healthy boys, three years old and five years old. I run a 501(c)(3) nonprofit for seniors and help my wife run our for-profit glass business, Healthy Glass LLC. So much of my story can be seen through searching my name on Linkedin, Facebook, and our business website. When things were getting back to normal, I got t-boned by a car driving at 60 miles an hour. I was airlifted, suffered a brain bleed, experienced two strokes, had traumatic brain injury, and underwent many surgeries.

You can read about my accident here. My story contains many scary moments of being kidnapped, shot, and more. Here is also a song I wrote about my experience. If there is any interest in learning more about my substance use disorder and how I overcame this to live this beautiful life I experience now, I would be happy to offer much more if I can give anyone hope where there seems there is none.

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