26 months clean · still climbing
From fentanyl to computer science.
From dealing to building.
From felon to founder.
22 years deep in pills, heroin, and fentanyl. Twelve felonies. Almost died seizing in a jail cell. Today I'm clean, finishing a CS degree, building this site, and 20 years in with the girl I started using with in high school. I write here for the version of me who couldn’t see a way out.
The climb
How we got here.
Age 13
The first pill cracked the door open.
Sheltered kid. Two alcoholic parents. No supervision. I found my mom's Vicodin in her closet at 13 and a way to stop feeling things. It worked for a long time.
The bottom
Twenty-two years I'll never get back.
Twelve felonies. Multiple grams of fent a day. A seizure in a jail cell that should have killed me. The only reason I'm telling you any of this is that a cellmate refused to give up on a stranger who wouldn't wake up.
Day 1
Day one was a jail cot.
Woke up after a seizure I shouldn’t have survived. Called my wife from West County. Told her I was done. Then I had to keep showing up for the next 794 days.
Now
Still climbing.
794 days clean. CS degree, 3.8 GPA. Building apps. Gym 4–5 days a week. Married to the girl I met at 16. Daughter graduating. The climb doesn’t end — it just changes shape.
Where to start