Eddy’s Story

“When I came here I could barely even walk through the door.”

Eddy had a good job and a home he shared with his fiancé. But beneath the surface, alcohol dependence was a steady undercurrent which eventually became a force that would take almost everything from him.

“I drank when I was 14 years old. Quite regularly. I was showing up to work drunk, having to be sent home by my boss on some days… It caused a massive rift in my engagement with my fiance. Just a real distance between her and I. We ended up splitting up and I got kicked out of the house I was staying in with her because of bad habits, coming home drunk, making a lot of noise with our arguing.”

Eddy ended up at a hotel room, spending his paycheck just to keep a roof over his head. Unknowingly, he joined the hundreds in our community who are a part of the invisible homeless population - those without a permanent home, living in hotels or doubled up with other individuals, whose housing hangs precariously on low, seasonal room rates, or the capacity and willingness of others to house them temporarily. 

“I kept making bad decision after bad decision while drinking. And to be honest, I thought the drinking was killing me…I felt like I was in a spot where if I quit drinking I felt like I was gonna die, and if I kept drinking, I was gonna die…When I was in the hotel room by myself reflecting on where I had come to, on the verge of losing the last things I had - my car and my job - I decided that enough was enough and decided to quit cold turkey… it was two days of pure hell.”

For the next two days, Eddy suffered from a detox from alcohol.

“I spent 8 hours floating in the pool, just trying to find some comfort. I started hallucinating. I guess I had a sense that it was about to be the end of the road so I called for help. I called my mother… The last thing I remember was going into the hospital. I had made it just in time. The next thing I remember was having a breathing treatment. I had been in a coma for 28 days on a respirator.”

When he awoke from his coma, Eddy was barely able to move; “I couldn’t even stand on my own. I was the weakest I had ever been in my life. Of course, after my limitations I had a brief feeling sorry for myself, time to say the least.”

After finally hitting rock bottom, Eddy started to push up. Little by little, he worked to regain the ability to move, sit up, stand, and eventually, walk. Within just a few days, he was ready to leave the hospital. But he didn’t have anywhere to go.

Thankfully, the case manager at the hospital connected Eddy with New Directions.

“When I walked in the doors here, it was honestly everything I could do to just walk to the front desk. The next 30 days it was rough. Jon (New Directions’ Peer Support Specialist) says we come in here ‘badly mangled’. I was the epitome of that. I couldn’t move.”

For the next 30 days, Eddy was encouraged to simply rest, regroup, and work on himself. Beyond just a safe place to lie down and basic needs, at New Directions he found an opportunity for real life change. Through peer-led classes and groups, and access to resources such as on-site mental health counseling and bike transportation, Eddy was able to continue his physical recovery as well as focus on his recovery from alcoholism.

“For the first week I would attend the classes, and it was really then that things started to click into place. It’s taking lessons and applying them to life directly which I think was invaluable for me, and the fact that Jon (Peer Support Specialist) and Will (Senior Peer Support Specialist / Program Director) are able to speak to you on your level as people that have been there, that understand, not just been educated. To me, that’s a big difference.”

Years earlier, Eddy had gone to rehab and gained sobriety, but it didn’t last. But this time, something was different. “I refrained from drinking for four years and thought well I’m sober. But I wasn’t sober… The willingness wasn’t there in my first rehabilitation as it is now. I had thought I had run the program properly but I had not. I saw where I had more depth that I hadn’t seen… Jon really had a great way of driving home the lessons in it and the importance of the actions in the program.”

Now celebrating six months of sobriety, Eddy's journey at New Directions has inspired him to help others experience recovery. “I feel that honestly it’s helped me find a purpose. I want to work in addiction recovery and do what Jon does and become a peer support specialist, so when I get to my year of sobriety, I plan on going through the classes… I just see the need for it, you know. Addiction, unfortunately, whether you have it or know someone who has it, affects almost everybody.”

Currently Eddy is working and saving as much as possible to secure a piece of land and a manufactured house, which will become his home in the near future. Thankfully, his employer fought to maintain his job while he was in a coma and throughout his recovery process. For Eddy, New Directions has been a “springboard” for his plans and next steps in life.

When we asked him what he would say to someone who is in a similar situation to where he was six months ago, Eddy answered “I would want them to know there’s hope, it doesn’t have to get there. I just remember before I got the help I needed feeling hopeless, just completely defeated. There was no way out for me. I was begging God to take my life when I was sitting there drinking, thinking, ‘it’s gonna kill me to drink’ or ‘it’s gonna kill me to stop’. Even after that, that’s the biggest piece of advice I could give, is that there’s is hope.”

Although Eddy has only been at New Directions for a little over six months, today, he is a completely different person. More than just learning how to walk again, Eddy has learned how to live again. With a changed mindset, and the continued resources and support available to him at New Directions, we can’t wait to see what he accomplishes in the next six months.

“It’s been an incredible journey. Before I started I didn’t think I’d make it. I was in a completely hopeless state of mind and body. I was just completely bereft spiritually… there was nothing there… Now, I want to go out and help everybody. It’s amazing once that clarity of thought starts to permeate, what you believe that you can accomplish.”