A man who was left on life support and had to learn how to walk again has shared a harrowing photo of himself after he overdosed on heroin as a warning to others.
Grant Clark, from Houston, Texas, has since enrolled in college and vows to remain sober in search of a better life for himself. The 19-year-old works part-time at his mother’s grooming shop and is about to start his first day of college in less than two weeks.
However, life wasn’t so easy for Grant growing up.
Since he was a little boy, Grant witnessed his father abuse his mother and cheat on her frequently, leaving him to develop a growing resentment towards him. His parents split when he was 10 years old, and Grant lived with his mother, brother and sister in a shared household.
At the age of 12, Grant drank alcohol for the first time and soon began using marijuana frequently, a drug he said was easily available in his neighbourhood and among his peers.
Grant found that getting intoxicated provided an instant relief to his overwhelming anxiety and depression and also helped numb the pain. It was not long before Grant began experimenting with more substances, including opiates and hard drugs.
At 13, Grant had his first dose of cocaine and just a year later, started taking heroin and pain medications such as morphine and hydrocodone.
He said:
I grew up in a really tense household, my dad abused my mom physically and cheated on her frequently.
While I wasn’t as close with my dad due to resentment growing up, we later formed a good connection and he’s changed a lot as a person through alcoholics anonymous.
My mother I’ve always been close with, and chose to stay with her when my parents divorced when I was 10. I have a brother and a sister, both of whom I have good relationships with.
When I was 12, I drank alcohol for the first time. I can’t really pinpoint a good reason or explanation to the mentality I had at the time, other than I knew it was supposed to make you feel good, perhaps I just didn’t feel good.
I started smoking weed when I was 12 as well, it was around the neighbourhood and after my good experience with alcohol I figured I would have similar satisfaction with a substance that was easier to acquire.
In terms of hard drugs, heroin was my first love, which I had experienced for the first time at 14 years old. Cocaine as a runner up in preference I had discovered at 13.
Grant turned to heroin as a way to cope with stress, describing it as being ‘cradled in a warm blanket’ which helped all his worries disappear.
It was not long before Grant developed an addiction to heroin, causing his life to spiral out of control.
Grant was unable to curb his ‘part time’ habit as his withdrawal symptoms became too severe to cope, he started using the drug frequently till the point of overdose.
He had his first overdose at 14 and went to rehab, but never managed to stop his addiction.
Grant began selling drugs to fund his heroin use and even robbed a convenience store at one point to get enough money to purchase the substance.
He added:
Both continued to be a problem for years to come. Heroin is complicated in terms of side effects.
It really hooks you in because it’s much cheaper than traditional prescription opioids, like oxycodone or hydrocodone.
It has no comedown after the first time you use it, you’re high and then it wears off and you feel normal.
You can use it a couple of days in a row and stop and feel perfectly fine.
This is where doubt of the drugs addiction potential and your ability to handle a ‘part time’ habit begins to set in.”
Before you know it you use a little too long and you get sick.
The worst kind of sick. It’s like there’s shards of glass in your muscles and everything is uncomfortable and fills your chest with anxiety, you can’t eat or sleep, you throw up constantly until your throat bleeds.
But it’s not all physical, there’s a huge mental aspect to it. Heroin is a drug that relieves stress, that is literally the biggest reason I use it. You forget about everything, nothing matters.
You have no fears, worries, it’s like being cradled in a warm blanket of assurance that everything will be ok.
The best comparison I’ve heard is when you’re driving and it’s raining very hard and you can barely see.
And then you drive underneath an overpass and for a second all the rain stops. That’s heroin. And when you don’t have it you don’t know how to deal with the world around you.
Combine that with the tenfold equivalent of the worst case of influenza you can think of and you’re getting close to heroin withdrawals.
Out of the five times he overdosed, Grant was hospitalised three times – and his most recent overdose nearly took his life.
Grant was on life support for four days as his entire body had failed on him, including his liver, kidney, heart and respiratory system.
The 19-year-old managed to survive the ordeal but was unable to walk and had to re-learn everything from scratch.
His near-death experience provided an urgent wake up call, realising he needed to get sober before it was too late.
He said:
The most recent one was my worst one. I had liver failure, kidney failure, respiratory failure, and cardiac failure.
I was on life support for 4 days, all while having pneumonia and a common cold simultaneously.
I woke up not knowing how to walk, it took a week before I could get around.
Grant started attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings once or twice a day, quit smoking and began rebuilding his lost relationships with family members and his long-term girlfriend.
He has since applied for college and will start his first class in 13 days, in a bid to start a better life for himself and turn over a new leaf.
Grant has now been sober for two and a half months and has no plans of turning back.
He has urged anyone undergoing addiction to sign up for the 12 step Alcoholics Anonymous programme, saying it was either that or ‘life and death’.
Grant said:
Since quitting I’ve started to rebuild relationships with my family, friends, and girlfriend.
I quit smoking cigarettes, applied to college, and am on my 11th step in my 12-step program for AA (Alcoholics Anonymous).
I’ve gotten on medication, specifically Abilify, and am happier than ever. I actively attend AA meetings once to twice a day, and have 2 and a half months clean.
I’m deathly afraid of relapsing, which Is why I work my program vigorously and thoroughly.
One good reason I haven’t gone back is that I’m tired of going nowhere with my life, working dead end jobs and isolating all the time.
I want better for myself; I want to experience and thrive in life rather than merely survive and get by.
My friends, family and girlfriend have all been incredibly supportive, and with me every step of the way. I’m truly blessed for them and practice my gratitude through continuing to better myself.
My biggest tip for anyone looking to get clean is to completely surrender to the 12-step program of alcoholics anonymous.
Give it everything you have, and don’t drag your feet, because in my case as well as many other addicts and alcoholics, it’s literally life and death.
Here’s to wishing Grant all the best on his new chapter at college.
If you want friendly, confidential advice about drugs you can talk to FRANK. You can call 0300 123 6600, text 82111 or email via http://www.talktofrank.com/contact 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Or Live Chat at http://www.talktofrank.com/livechat from 2pm-6pm any day of the week.
Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.