Biography/Personal Statement
 I was born in Sommerville, NJ on May 19 19961, the 7th of 8 children. my parents were hard working, loving and supportive of their children. Although their relationships was strained and rocky due to my fathers problems with alcohol. By the time I was 12 yrs old, they were divorced and I was living with my mom and three siblings. By the age of 14 I had picked up alcohol myself and did not care for the taste I was able to ignore it and drink away simply out of a desire to be " a part of" I would later further sedate myself with other drugs too. By sophomore I was doing an enormous amount of LSD, Pot and anything that might stop me from feeling. The day after my 18th birthday I left home to go to boot camp (USMC) In the Marines I learned to "drink like a man" I also discovered cocaine. I was off to the races after that. I have been three quarters of the way around the world . Although I do not remember a lot of it because I was usually loaded, there are things that I do remember that I would rather not. I was in Beirut, Lebanon when our barracks were destroyed by a truck bomb, in a ten second period I lost 241 brothers. Shortly thereafter on my return to the US I was subsequently discharged Jan 13th 1985. I moved to California, got married to a Jersey girl , our common bonds were alcohol and cocaine, in the mid 80s I became addicted to crack cocaine and my marriage dissolved after 12 years. 
On my return to Jersey I met a girl I went to Junior High with and we began a relationship, the fruit of which has been the birth of my son, Michael, despite the discovery of Michaels autism, he has remained my pride and my joy, and I love him dearly.. I slowed down on the partying after he was born but never totally quit. In Oct 99 I joined our hometown fire academy and was delighted to be a volunteer firefighter. I loved it I had finally found the camaraderie of a brotherhood that Id longed for since the corps. 
Things appeared to be going fairly well until after being prescribed oxycontin for a back injury the progression of my disease had reached its zenith as I became a fully fledged heroin addict at the age of 41. The downward spiral at the time seemed agonizingly slow but actually only lasted for three years.. In Jan 05, I entered Sty Clare's Hospital In Boontown, NJ., on leaving their program I amassed a further 106 consecutive days clean ad sober while living at a halfway house in the Trenton area. Still desirous of more I prayed to God to help me find what I needed in my recovery. He led me to Tabor house. I moved here in April of that year, I have had some struggles with this disease in that time, in November of the same year I found myself in relapse again and it took only three weeks for my own personal Hell to be reawakened, desperate and praying once more I have been given a second chance, both St Clare's and later Tabor have both offered helping hands and I am now home again to stay, I have received Gods grace and finally surrendered to the disease. At the time of writing I have 13 days of continuous sobriety, I go to a daily meeting,  am going to Church, have a sponsor and am working the steps. I am once again looking forward to each new day, I know that by Gods grace, One Day At A Time life has become and will continue to to get better and better.