When Mike walked through the doors of Guiding Light, he was a stop away from death — and also starving for community and structure.
Mike spent 8 years in the Marines and another seven years as a military contractor. He served in Iraq and attained the rank of staff sergeant. He learned the value of discipline and being part of a band of brothers.
But he has difficult memories, too. He got addicted to painkillers in the service. He lost brothers in service. When he returned to civilian life, Mike sought other ways to dull the pain.
“My drinking career started, and I drank for the next 20, 25 years. I lost myself, and it is hard to find that again once you lose it.”
Mike still feels shame from his years of addiction. “That’s slowly going away,” Mike said. “That’s something I’ve always needed to let go. Will I ever let it fully go? I don’t know, but slowly I am.”
One memory he has not let go? The look on the faces of his boss and coworker who found him when he failed to show up for work for a week. “They looked at me with pity. That’s what it was. I’ll never forget that look. Me, United States Marine, Second Recon. And somebody’s looking at me with pity,” he said.
His addiction had progressed to methamphetamine and his weight had fallen to 98 pounds when his old boss took him to the emergency room.
When he arrived at Guiding Light after 10 days in the hospital, he learned about the recovery program’s emphasis on discipline, structure and fitness of mind and body. It was a lot like boot camp. Once a Marine, always a Marine. Mike was all in.
He started rebuilding his life and health with all the seriousness he learned in the Corps. As he put on muscle, he also strengthened his faith.
Mike has earned several promotions at work, where he now supervises three staff members at a major hotel group in downtown Grand Rapids where he’s the maintenance manager.
Looking at Mike now it’s hard to imagine the withered body his coworkers discovered. He is militant about maintaining the physical fitness he rediscovered at Guiding Light, working out at the gym six days a week. He has put on more than 60 pounds of muscle and competes in bodybuilding shows.
He just passed his fifth Independence day — free from addiction. He almost shrugs off surpassing the milestone because he is now just living his new life.
“Five years is just a drop in the bucket. When I got past two years, the years just started going faster and faster. Now the only thing I’m concerned about is today and tomorrow,” he said. “I’m just happy. I’m also bold about telling someone struggling with addiction what’s what. I’ve said to people on the street, ‘The way you look, you’re not going to make it through summer. You’re going to be dead. You need to get to Guiding Light.’”