To All Athletes Everywhere…
This is My Story

I played sports my whole life. 

It was what I was good at and it was all I knew growing up. Sports were my passion and I worked so hard at it to be the best I could be. I played sports all through grade school and high school. I chose to play football in college and was immediately able to make a positive impact on my team. Something started to happen after my sophomore season, going into my junior year.

I was having massive amounts of hip pain on a daily basis. I finally saw a doctor and he told me that I had Hip Impingement, which is an excess bone growth around the joint and it was tearing at the Labrum. I needed to have surgery to fix it. My doctor told me that I had the hip of a 40 year-old and would probably need a replacement when I’m 50. This was a bit unsettling but it needed to get done. I had accepted the fact that I would probably not be able to play football again and for the sake of my body, it would be a good idea to hang up the cleats.

I had the surgery, did physical therapy and was feeling better. I was running again and getting back in shape. The first time I attempted to play basketball, I felt like something was off and it felt like my Labrum was torn again. The pain that I had prior to the surgery came back and I wasn’t sure what to do.

For the next few years, the pain was on and off, depending on what I was doing. I kept working out and pushed through it. The pain eventually got so bad that I stopped all physical activity because I knew I was just hurting myself. I saw another doctor who told me my Impingement was still there and that it would be an easy fix, but the recovery might take a while.

I was in chronic pain and over-medicating myself with painkillers. Since I stopped working out, I was out-of-shape and just wanted to get the surgery over with. I felt that I would never be the same person that I was before my injury. I had this mindset that I would never be able to play sports again.

The second surgery went well, but while I was recovering I really noticed that I was abusing the pain meds. I took way more than the doctor prescribed. The mixture of drugs that I was taking made me more and more incapable of doing anything, which led me into a deep depression. I put myself down for my situation and I felt like I lost the thing I love the most in life. Drugs were a simple fix but they eventually wrecked my world.

My depression and drug abuse started to bleed over into all aspects of my life. I stopped caring about everything, including myself. My drug use soon became a full-blown addiction and I was using painkillers to handle all of my stress and real-life problems. By fixating on losing sports as a big part of my life, I lost a lot of other things like my dignity and self-respect. After my surgery my body was fine, in all reality, and I could have stopped taking the drugs. But I didn’t. 

I would have been back to normal if I had.

Instead, I had this negative mindset and I was blaming the doctors or my family for my problems. I should have taken a long look in the mirror to find out who was really causing my issues.

After coming to Narconon and handling my addiction, I realize that it takes being strong enough to confront what is actually going on and handle it. I gave up on myself and the things and people around me.

I just now have found true happiness again. 

I had to work hard to kick my addiction and now, I feel better than I have in years, both physically and mentally. I know I’m not incapable of doing the things I love anymore. 

If anyone out there has a similar story and can relate in anyway, know that you can get back to that person you used to be, even though it may seem impossible!

J.D.