News and Stories

After decades of battling an extreme drug addiction that left me working on the streets, I got clean and moved to Kelowna in search of a new beginning. I was finally sober, but still had so much healing to do to avoid relapsing. 

Physical activity is something I have always enjoyed and prioritized throughout my life, so I was devastated when I became disabled a year ago. I was in debilitating pain from my sciatica, fibromyalgia, and arthritis in my knees and lower back. I tried so hard to continue working, but in the end, I had to go on disability as the pain was just too much to continue with my job.

Just over a year ago, I suffered a terrible injury that left me in constant pain and unable to work my physical job at the young age of 28. I build houses and in an unfortunate accident fell off scaffolding on to concrete in such a way that damaged my back and hip. 

A year ago, my world was flipped upside down when my wife passed away unexpectedly due to complications from childbirth. Everyone was equally shocked and devasted by this turn of events and overnight, I became a newly single dad with a toddler and newborn baby.

Growing up, my family suffered greatly at the hands of my abusive and alcoholic father. My mother was a smart woman who had to methodically orchestrate our departure while my brother, sister and I were still young. After leaving she was free but was also a single mother with little money and a grade 10 education.

Several years ago, my life changed dramatically. Within a short period of time, my father passed away and my aging mother’s health began to rapidly deteriorate. As a result, my priorities shifted. I decided to quit my job, move from a small town near Vancouver Island to Kelowna, and become my mother’s full-time caregiver.