Hope springs eternal for Joe and his family

At precisely 1 p.m. on  March 20, 10-year-old Phillip looked up at the clock from his school room in Minnesota. He knew it was 8 a.m. in Hawaii, the hour when his mom and dad were to exchange wedding vows, and in this way he could join the ceremony telepathically.

The event was a turning point for Joe H. (Phillip's dad), who has been in recovery for 5 years since a stay at Hazelden Foundation's residential program in Center City, Minn. A lot had been lost--and gained--before he got down on bended knee and tearfully asked his former wife to marry him all over again.

Joe's path to recovery began on a bitterly cold winter morning in 2007, when he awoke in a stranger's house, surrounded by passed-out people he didn't know and crashing after a six-day meth binge. The day brought a terrible and all-too-familiar reckoning: "I was wanted by the police. I was wanted by my family. I was completely scared, and I had no idea where I was going to end up," says Joe. "I'd been in this place many times before."

Joe had used meth for 15 years and had been admitted to many treatment centers to no avail. Like many who suffer from addiction, Joe's education had been cut short, his family relationships and friendships strained to the breaking point, and his finances and reputation trashed. He'd land high-paying jobs in the construction field, but would quit before a drug test could be administered, laying blame on a colleague on his way out the door.

The drug had an irresistible and deadly pull for Joe: "When I didn't feel confident,meth gave me confidence.When I didn't feel smart enough, meth made me smart. It made me a better worker, a better person. But then it started to ruin things. I began to hate sunny days because they reminded me of happiness, and I wasn't happy. I was ashamed to be around my wife and son. And I was sick and tired of being sick and tired."

Joe white-knuckled it for a few days after that wintry morning in 2007 before reaching out to Hazelden Foundation. He remembered Hazelden from his childhood in Center City as a storied institution, one that he believed he never could afford. "I did not even have $10."

Because of the generosity of donors like you, Joe completed 28 days in primary care and 6 weeks of outpatient care through Hazelden's Patient Aid Fund. "Someone I'll never meet donated money to get me in here. Without that, I can honestly say I wouldn't be telling my story."

While in treatment, Joe remembers looking out the window of his unit and seeing his friends' pick-up trucks parked on the lake ice. He knew they were using. This time, he said, the fellowship of his peers, the strength of his desire to change, and the efficacy of a Twelve Step-based program prevailed.

Joe has continued and sustained his recovery through the use of MORE® (My Ongoing Recovery Experience), Hazelden's online continuing care program that keeps alumni connected with recovery coaches and peers. Joe is proud to be the second person in Hazelden's history to be enrolled in this program. He got the help he needed when he least expected it: "My recovery coach would call me every single time I didn't want to talk to him. I don't believe in coincidences anymore. I believe that my Higher Power works these things out."

Recovery, he says, has restored honesty and integrity to his life and opened a world of possibility. Joe is on track to finish a degree in criminal justice this fall, and then plans to enroll in the police academy at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College. Most important, he's celebrating a fresh start in his marriage, being a dad to his "forgiving and fun-loving" son, and rising each morning to greet the sun.

You can make a broad, life-changing impact on the lives of those who turn to us for help by supporting the following areas:

• Effective addiction treatment
• Patient Aid Fund
• Prevention
• Training and education
• Addiction research
• Public policy initiatives
• Reduction of the stigma associated with addiction