I began life in a small Michigan mining town. I was a skinny kid for my first six years. My mom fed me and my siblings a farmer’s diet. Sweets were plentiful as well. I became a chunky, husky kid during my middle school years. The summer before I started seventh grade, my parents moved to a new home just outside the town. I believe that one afternoon changed the course of my life forever. I was biking back home from visiting friends, when a group of about ten kids started running toward me and screaming at me. I began to get away, when one swung his football helmet and it brushed by my back and hit the seat of my bike. I broke away, ditched the bike, and ran into my house. After that, I rarely left the protective walls of my home again until I turned eighteen. I... Continue Reading
As a food addict, I had no limits on anything I did. I had no structure and preferred it that way. When I was told about what I had to do in this program, I balked. I wanted to pick and choose. My sponsors, and there were many, tried to explain that the tools of this program were gifts, if only I would give them a chance. By weighing and measuring, I was assured that my nutritional needs were being met. But what I found was that the discipline of weighing and measuring my food carried into my life, helping me to find a new freedom. It was work , preparing meals, making calls, going to meetings. I was forced to realign my life , for the better. Having made a commitment to program and to a higher power, I was finally accountable. For the first time, I felt some... Continue Reading
When I was 29 years old, I made the mistake of experimenting with freebase cocaine and experienced a brush with death after having inhaled some vomit as a result. I was in a coma for eight days; on two occasions, I was told, I had flat-lined brain waves. I should have died; but God had other plans for me. When I came out of the coma, I wrestled with three bouts of pneumonia. My weight dropped from 185 pounds to 143 pounds, and at 6 foot 3 inches I was now skinny and weak. The doctors removed the feeding tubes, and taught me how to eat again without choking on the food, because at that point I had lost all my motor muscle skills as a result of the anoxia. The nurses began feeding me double entrées and triple desserts in an effort to put the weight back on. It... Continue Reading
For as far back as I can remember, I always asked the question, “Why me?” I was filled with self-pity, and I constantly stuffed my feelings down with food. I was born a triplet, and we were diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at a year old. My parents were always positive, and they instilled in us that nothing is impossible. However, the cycle of self-pity really started for me just a week after we moved into our handicap-accessible house when I was almost six. My triplet brother, Paul, developed pneumonia and passed away suddenly. I remember the day he died as if it happened yesterday. My entire life changed from that day forward, and I immediately began to question why my life was so terrible. The years following his death were pretty bad. I dealt with a lot of traumatic situations, including my mother almost dying after complications from gastric bypass... Continue Reading
My brother and I had never had a close relationship. I am 71, and he is 66. For years I had tried to control him; I used criticism, bullying, and shaming in unsuccessful attempts to change him into the person I thought he should be. It didn’t work. The result was that we barely tolerated each other. In November, my brother called me and said, “The doctor told me that if the sore on my foot does not heal, I may have to have my leg amputated.” Additional pills and shots promised relief, but were not helping. He was hysterical and sounded desperate. Prior to joining FA, my immediate reaction would likely have been to be insensitive and my initial thoughts would have been judgmental. “It is about time he came to his senses,” and, “Let him live with the choices he has made.” These thoughts did come, but they... Continue Reading
