THANKS LAST DOOR!!!

Jared R

It took me 15 years of active addiction to admit to myself that I had a life threatening disease.  I didn’t want to believe it at first.  My life was a complete mess. My favorite pastime was hurting those who love me and causing destruction to whoever I came in contact with, any job that I held and those in my family.  I didn’t care….. I just wanted ONE MORE! “Then I will stop I said”. 

I grew up with what every kid dreams of; a loving family, friends, playing sports, I had hobbies.  But I was also picked on, the brunt of many jokes, ridiculed and beat up.  I was beat up almost every day from Grade 7 till the end of Grade 9.  I was angry and alone.

I started hanging out with people younger than me and started breaking the law.  I would move cities in hopes of a new beginnings at every new stop, but so did my addiction.  He had plans for me.  I was in Kelowna in 1999 and my Mom and Dad helped me come home to go to school and work in the family business.  I did great in school and I was also taking drugs while in school.  It was 2005 when I first admitted to my parents that I had a problem.  I went to treatment and used every weekend.  I lost my job at my parent’s tugboat/watertaxi company and relocated to Calgary.  Addiction, crime, homelessness were the three words that were my profession my beliefs of myself were that of; alone, scared and dead.
It was late October 2006 and my parents had tract me down through a private investigator (I had been in Calgary Remand for 4 1/2 months prior).  They called me at the homeless shelter and said they were coming over to take me out to dinner.

 

I looked into the mirror at myself and began to cry.  “Look at myself, look at what I have done to myself”.  My parents and I had that meeting and they had some letters from home.  Needless to say they bought me a bus ticket back home.  One way of course.  If I showed up at the bus station I wanted help and if I didn’t well don’t call us anymore.  It was October 23, 2006 and I got on that bus.  I got into Vancouver and my parents were there to greet me along with my childhood friend Nik.  The next day was to be the defining moment of my life.

 

It was October 24, 2006. My first day clean! I made a phone call and talked with Dan M. of the Last Door.  He said to come by tomorrow and check us out.  I remember the next day my parents dropped me off and we had our parting hug at the base of the house stairs knowing that in time this house, the guys were going to help change me.  I reached the top of the stairs and a giant of a man grabbed me and said “My name is Pete Q, welcome home. I looked behind and saw my parents crying, smiling and walking toward their car.  From this day forth the transformation began.

 

For the next six months I worked Last Door’s Program like my life depended on it.  Cause it did.  My sponsor Pete, guided me through and the boys in the house with their energy showed me a new way of life.  So many memories were created at Last Door, the Door Slam, the many dances and fundraisers, the Lions playoff game (and Galers’ 60,000 person wave), groups, amends, coffee’s, movies on Tuesday’s at the old Uptown theatre, meetings, clean time , all of this was huge in me finding myself.  Over time it got easier taking more clean time as the years wore on.

I left the door in November of 2007.  By March of 2008 I owned my own condo on 12th and Queens, had a full time job and a steady girlfriend.  This clean life really works!  Little did I know it was only beginning.

 

Over the next four years so much has changed.  My parent s hired me back at the family business.  I have gone back to school twice for Addictions Counsellor and Operating a Marine vessel.  I met my wife in the rooms of Narcotics Anonymous and we own a townhome in Surrey with our 7 month old daughter.  I learned to play the bagpipes three years ago and had played in a military pipe band for two and a half years and finally today after two years of dedication and persistence and working my program and the program of NA, I am a proud member of the Canadian Armed Forces.  I was in Montreal for 14 weeks of basic training and am now posted in Borden, Ontario for the next 18 months.  I have been through deaths of Grandparents, loss of jobs and family emergencies, but I have always used the tools I learnt from the Last Door.

 

I owe my life to the program of Narcotics Anonymous and to the boys past, present and future of the Last Door!!
A special thanks to Dave P. and Micheal P. whose powerful groups made me the man I am today.

THANKS LAST DOOR!!!
Blair P.

Clean Date October 24, 2006

 

 

Before I went for treatment I was losing my sanity. My life was full of misery, isolation, and loneliness. I denied that I had a problem and I denied the fact that I needed help. I lied, I stole and I cheated. I threw away a two year marriage because I was unwilling to do anything about it. I had pushed my friends and family so far away, that I thought it was easier to just not contact them, then it was to actually tell them what I was doing. I began avoiding all non addicts; I started belittling all the people who had normal lives, families and hobbies. My life became narrowed and my only concern was confined to the daily maintenance of my disease.

 

On September 22, 2011 I had hit my rock bottom were my insanity had finally risen higher then my walls of denial. I felt forced to get honest about my disease I phoned an old friend of mine that I knew had gone thru treatment. He picked me up from Kelowna and brought me straight to a meeting in New Westminster called “winners” where for the first time in my life I stood up in front of two hundred plus people and said “My name is Lance and I’m an addict. I collected a hug and a white key fob and then sat in fear, listening to people share about their stories, and thinking to myself “is this it? Is this what it’s going be like for the rest of my life”?

 

After that meeting I was taken straight to the Last door, where I was welcomed with a lot of friendly smiles and tons of energy! I was so overwhelmed from the day I already had, now all of the people, all the new names, the new faces, the fear, after laying down to go to sleep for the first time at Last Door, it felt like a big weight had been lifted off my shoulders and that everything was going to be o.k…..  It felt like home….

 

It didn’t take me long to make new friends, real friends, something that I didn’t have when I was in my addiction. My feeling of loneliness immediately started to ease, there were people around me laughing, having fun, living and enjoying life, their new life, life in recovery. It was hard for me not to get inspired, I wanted what they had, so I surrounded myself with the people that were doing recovery and felt I had become a part of something. I built a support group and got myself a sponsor. My sponsor guided me threw a set of steps and my support group held me accountable for all my actions. I stayed in primary treatment for six months and then five months in secondary treatment. In that time I learned how to live with spiritual principles like honesty, willingness, kindness, compassion, and acceptance. I have gained self esteem, morality, integrity, and dignity. Instead of isolation I have found fellowship. Rather than constantly trying to get by on my own limited power, I have developed a conscious contact with a power greater than myself I had found a new way to live.

 

Thanks to the Last Door for getting me up to the starting line for my new life in recovery I am grateful to have had the opportunity to have stayed at the last door and I am proud to say “I am a door boy”. The Last Door is where I got my heart back, it is where I learned how to be a better son to my parents, a better brother to my sister, a better uncle to my nephews and I am truly grateful for that.

 

My name is Lance P. and I am a recovering addict; my clean date is September 23, 2011

 

I started using drugs in my early teens, and by my late teens, things had gotten so bad I wanted to quit drugs. I tried on my own for a couple years, but it was starting to become clear that I could not do it on my own. I decided to try treatment, where I learned that in order to stay clean I had to change. But I wasn’t ready to do that. As things got progressively worse, I spent some time back and forth between treatment and recovery homes, until I had just about given up on being clean. I believed that treatment would never work for me, and there was no hope for me getting clean, I would live and die a junkie.

On May 18th, with the strong encouragement of a family friend, I decided I’d give treatment one last chance.  That friend dropped me off at the Last Door, and I was instantly welcomed into a group session among people who I would soon form meaningful friendships with that I still hold to this day. I was told “welcome home”, and for one of the first times in my life, I felt home.  I told myself “this time I will do whatever it takes to stay clean”. This time I was willing to change. Over the 6 months I spent at The Last Door, I completed a set of steps, I worked with a sponsor, and formed a solid support group of friends. Living clean was not only possible, but it was a lot of fun.

Today I have everything I could ever ask for from life. I’m 18 months clean, and it’s not a struggle to live without drugs. That alone is a miracle I never would have thought possible 18 months ago.  I have good relationships with family, and friends, I have a job that I love, and I have plans for school and everything seems to be falling right into place for me. Today I am following my dreams and I can truly say that without The Last Door, and the staff there, none of this would have been possible for me.

Thank you,

Curtis L.

Clean Date May 18th, 2011

 

Life in Recovery and Retirement, from a Door Boys Perspective

 

My name is Akram and I am a recovering addict. I have been clean for 17 years. I cleaned up at the Last Door at age 42.   I was an Airline Pilot who needed to change before I lost everything.  With the help of Last Door I was able to return back to work, get my life back on track and fulfill my career responsibilities to my employer.  On March 31st, 2012 I retired from my profession as an airline pilot.

 

On May 2nd, 2012 I began a motorcycle journey across the USA.   The first portion of my trip lasted 50 days and then I came back to Last Door for a week and stayed in one of their Family Suites, I attended Group and shared my experiences with the new guys and lead by example what recovery is really all about.

 

I am now on the next portion of my road trip and this time I am sending blog emails of my trip to Last Door on a regular basis so the new guys can read my notes, look at pictures of my trip and feel assured that Last Door is a good place to be if they want to get their life back.  It’s the best way I can show how life in long-term recovery is attainable while at the same time helping me stay clean.

 

Thank you Last Door for supporting me over 17 years of recovery experiences.

 

Arkam

Clean Date: Jan12, 2013

I spent 4 months at Last Door and then returned back to Calgary to go back to work and build new memories with my family.  My life after treatment at Last Door has been challenging and wonderful.  It continues to grow positively every day.  I have a program I follow as well as a recovery community in my life today. I do service, give back, sponsor and share my experience, strength and hope — so others may see that this program really does work. Today I came from Calgary back to Last Door and I am staying in a Family Suite with my Dad, Girlfriend and baby girl – I’m here to go to group and read my one year letter and to celebrate my first year clean with my family beside me. I wouldn’t want my life to be any other way. I have Last Door to thank and I am forever grateful.

Brendan W

Clean Date: June 25th, 2012

My whole life consisted of emptiness and loneliness, this disease eventually took over everything.  I hadn’t spoken to my family in almost 7 years and I was the guy panhandling on the streets.  At the age of 35, while panhandling at a 7 eleven, someone I had used with who was now 8 months clean suggested I go to Last Door to change my life.  Impressed by my buddies change it motivated be to consider going but it took me at least a year to get the courage to call Last Door.

In March of  2010 I arrived at Last Door where I spent 10 months there in their extended long term care and transitional living program.  I was completely reprogrammed, while at Last Door I learned how to live for the very first time… I completed the written exercises Last Door provides, I reunited with my family and made amends, I also made lifelong friends who I have shared my journey with.

Today I’ve successfully finished the A to Z Personal Training Program at Douglas College; I am finally following my dreams to become a professional personal trainer.  I truly never could have imagined life could be this good.

Today I spend as much time as possible at Last Door taking advantage of their Continuing Care Program as a Proud Alumni giving back to the new guys, letting them know anyone can lose the desire to use and change regardless of how bad it was.

Thank you Last Door for teaching me that giving is more important than taking.

Adam H

Door Boy

Clean Date: March 3rd 2010