Brady grew up in a family that was very disconnected. Everyone seemed to do their own thing every day. Both of his parents had an addiction to drugs, but his parents tried to hide it from him. After getting his girlfriend pregnant, he decided to get married to try to do the honorable thing. At 25, he started working at a liquor store and began drinking very heavily.
While drinking at work one day, a man came through the drive-thru and had cocaine. Brady decided to try it and at 26 he developed a cocaine addiction within a very short period of time. He started using cocaine to wake him up and alcohol to help him when he needed to sleep.
Eventually, he got a job working for a phone bank where he maintained a job for two years. During those two years, he was not only drinking and doing cocaine but also started using pain pills. After injuring his back, Brady’s mother gave him a pain pill to try to ease the pain. He liked the way that it made him feel and began using them frequently. Within a year of working at the bank, he realized that he needed the drugs and alcohol to feel the way that he wanted to feel. He tried to stop using at one point because he was spending so much money so quickly. He wasn’t worried about health risks or legal risks. He just cared about decreasing the amount of money he was spending on drugs and alcohol.
Things Fall Apart
After working at the bank for about a year and a half, Brady’s mom overdosed on Xanax and Oxycodone. This caused his addiction to spiral because of the loss of his mother put him in a bad place emotionally. He started drinking all day and night, while still doing drugs to try to numb his feelings.
Eventually, the drinking led to Brady developing pancreatitis. He was hospitalized and then lost his job because he had missed so many days. He missed ample days before he was hospitalized and the days that he missed during his hospitalization was the last straw for his employer. He didn’t fight the firing because all he cared about was drinking more and more alcohol. He ended up getting pancreatitis three times over the next year. The alcohol was doing so much damage to his body that it was slowly falling apart.
In 2009, a doctor told Brady that everyone only has so much that they can drink. He was told that he had already drunk all that his body could handle. All that he heard was that he needed to stop drinking. He assumed that it meant he could still do all of the other bad habits that he had been doing. Brady detoxed from alcohol but didn’t stop taking drugs. He gave up drinking alcohol and switched to using drugs on a regular basis. He was so addicted to the drugs that he showed up to his mother’s funeral strung out. He didn’t know how to handle the situation in any other way.
Deeper into Addiction
For the next eight years, Brady ended up getting arrested many times for theft and for writing fake prescriptions. At 32, he started using heroin because it was more affordable and became even more addicted. He became very depressed after his father died.
Brady started to feel as though everyone would be better off if he wasn’t around. He thought that his life was meaningless. He went back and forth into rehab and eventually his wife had enough and left him. After she left, he considered suicide because he was so depressed. He went to the pawnshop to pawn his daughter’s flute. On the way, someone said to him that he needed to take care of himself. He didn’t know who the person was. He pawned the flute, but then couldn’t find any dope for a few days.
He decided that he was going to kill himself and went to cut himself but couldn’t do it. He started to pray and told God that if he hated them to just kill him. He knew he couldn’t do it anymore and wanted to be able to live a better life.
At this point, he calls a company to come and pick him up to take him to rehab. He shows up to the detox facility and the guy that talked to him when he was going to pawn his daughter’s flute was there. He asked if Brady had heard what he said, and the man said that he used to work with him. Brady asked why he told him to take care of himself and he said that Brady looked like he was going to do something bad.
Brady Finds Hope
The man at the counter suggested that Brady went to rehabilitation for getting help for drug addiction. He thought that he couldn’t afford it but found out that the state would pay for it. During detox, he went to group meetings and started reading an Alcoholics Anonymous book. He thought that if he got all the help, he could get his life back, but that wasn’t the case.
He ended up relapsing and started drinking and using drugs again. He thought that it would make things better, but they made things much worse. He moved to Phoenix and ended up homeless. He met another homeless person and ended up doing heroin intravenously for the first time. He overdosed. A week later he realized that he needed to get professional help. He was able to get sober again and got a job as a busboy. He eventually moved his way up in the business and started running three restaurants. This is when his recovery took a backseat to his work. This led to him drinking and it made him realize what the disease really is. He started using drugs again and overdosed twice within five days. He lost his job, his apartment and even his son living with him.
He went to recovery again and was able to recover again. He worked with his sponsor and decided to start volunteering at the facility rather than working at the restaurants again. He went to meetings three to four times a day. He figured out that he needed to take steps to feel more comfortable. He created a strong circle of friends and is able to have a more fulfilling life. He puts his recovery first and Brady realizes that he has a life that is even better than before he started using. He has great relationships with his family and tries to give back whenever he can.
32 comments
God is too kind to his creatures. Whenever you pray to get out of any trouble, God makes a way better for you. Secondly its self confidence of a person which makes him successful to achieve his goal in life.
I hope Brady will be okay and doesn’t relapse again. Wow, what a toll alcohol must have taken on him if the dr told him his body couldn’t handle it anymore… and to have pancreatitis three times in one year…I’m amazed at how his organs are even still functioning. The human body is touch and resilient! I’m sure he probably has life long liver damage to some extent though. I’m surprised his body was even able to handle any drugs after that at all.
He must be smart though if he was able to start out as a busboy and then move his way up to running 3 restaurants. I’m glad he is volunteering at the rehab facility, but I wonder, how is he paying the bills? I worry he might need money and slip back into his old habits eventually if he takes another job somewhere. I think he may be one of those types that when everything seems in place, they think it’s okay to start using again, even if they think they are only going to do it once. They look at it as sort of an award of sorts for their “good” behavior.
The mind does mysterious things, that’s for sure. I had a good friend who was sober for 10 and a half years! He had opened his own used car lot, had a wife and two kids, and was even a soccer coach for his son’s team. Something one weekend triggered him to use cocaine again. And, in a matter of two weeks, he blew through his family’s savings. He started selling some of the cars off at a very low price, just to have cash in hand for coke. His story didn’t end so well, his wife left with the kids and moved 4 states away. He still has the car lot but it isn’t as successful as it was, and now he lives in a camper on the car lot property (he lost his house). I imagine he still uses, but maybe not quite as much as he did when he relapsed that weekend. I pray for him and all those affected by drugs. It’s a serious epidemic in this country.
Alcohol and doing drugs are just dangerous to the heath. I am amazed at how is orans. God makes a way better for you.
So sad but with a happy ending for Brady. The background of a family is very essential. Parents are to treat their children the good way. Alcohol and doing drugs are not just dangerous to the health but are deadly and life wasters.
the probability that you will start using drugs is high if your parents are drug addict..I’m not surprised Brady became an addict..thank God he decided to be sober..drug addiction sucks
This was very touching and inspirational. I’m just so happy he is so courageous to shear I’m his story.
Alcohol is really addicitve. Why? because it is cheaper and much easier to buy. No regulation whatsoever. We just need to control our intake.
It started with alcohol, and this is how it works these days. Starting up with alcohol before upgrading to drugs. I really hope this awareness will show positive effect
Your up bringing is very important to know where you will end your life. When you are addicted, you can sell anything at any price just to get the drug you needed
It is really amazing how you used alcohol and cocaine like a prescription to treat an ailment and the also able to maintain a job. He got himself neck deep into d drugs but I am glad that he finally to the bold step towards recovery.
This is an emotional story. Glad he was able to pull through alcohol and drugs are not good for the body system. Thanks Detox for helping him out
Most people that are addicted this days started off with alcohol because its legal and easy to come by. We should sensitize people about the danger alcoholism cause to more substance abuse
Of course, one addiction leads to the other. The joy of it is that you have recovered.
Wow, I believe there is an higher being that can help us out from any addiction we put ourselves. Alcoholism had taken alit of lives, making it difficult for those people to fulfil their purpose on earth
Bible says he who walks with the wise shall be wise but the companion of the fool shall be destroyed. Thank God you are not destroyed due to the love of God for your life.
Thanks to Detox Rehab community that helped Brady out of addiction. You are doing well.
A bad behaviour that is not taken care of will definitely brings out its companions. Congratulations for your recovery.
Most of the abuse were from a life whose sad and lonely. We can’t blame Brady about the choice he made. But personally, I admire his courage to step out of the addiction zone, and decided to put an end on it.
Losing one’s mother at a young age would definitely leave a permanent scar, The fact that Brady has such strong connections and is in an even better spot than he was before his addiction, is such an amazing resolution and shows his true perseverance. Thanks for the awesome read.
This is a pathetic and touching story. As a matter of fact, drug addicts always end up with regret. Addiction always starts with a minor one before it degerates to a more severe stage. Abstinence is the key.
Most drug addiction always begins with substance abuse especially with the use of alcohol. It’s advisable to jettison any form of addiction to forestall negative effects.
The sad thing is this is common!!!! Addicts tend to ramp it up to exceed those previous high until you cannot get high anymore. At that time tho you are maybe gone to far to comeback. We know the health consequence of this but people will still do it. Power of drugs I guess or at least what makes it seductive.
He was into the whole addition cycle and saw it’s rewards negatively not until he could break lose and break forth. I’m happy for his salvation.
One addiction most likely leads you to another one. Like you’ll never get enough of it. So glad that Brady has found his way on track. I hope it will last forever, Not gonna be easy I believe but super worth.
When addiction strikes you, you barely have the power to control yourself. You get to a ditch and the only way out is through the help of others and pray that you do not get weak and get back again to substances.
Brady’s Experience is Inspiring,
People should be made aware of the Effects of taking excessive harmful substances.
Avoidance is better than struggling with Treatment!
It’s a very sad story but also has a happy ending. Addiction to alcohol and drugs are not just injurious to health but are deadly and life wasters.
There’s always a gateway to a deeper addiction. Brady I can relate with your story life sometimes can just be unfair but doing right just always be the way to go.
Very sad story. Secondly its self confidence of a person which makes him successful to achieve his goal in life. Thanks for sharing this blog.
A very sad and and emotional story, thank God Brandy found recovery from alcohol and sales of illegal drugs. The parent and a child’s background matters a lot in the upbringing of a child. Detox to rehab thank you for sharing this wonderful story of recovery.
So many lives are ruined because of addiction to drugs or alcohol. May this be a lesson to everyone to be responsible for one’s self. Addiction not only ruins one’s self but also the lives of the people around them. I’m glad that Brady got better though. Hope he’ll continue to stay sober.
Drug can be hazardrous to one health the earlier that an action is taking to put stop to it the better … Grateful that at the end Brad is able to overcome it..