Recovered addicts tell their tales

Recovered addicts tell their tales
 Andrew Mansfield

News staff photo by ANDREW MANSFIELD

State Sen. Jen Flanagan, D-Leominster, speaks at AED’s National Recovery Month event.
Andrew Mansfield


Recovered addicts Michael Donahue and Michael Barros gave a face to the problem of substance abuse by telling their stories to the audience at an awareness event on Wednesday in Gardner.

Mr. Donahue sat beside his parents, Donna and George Donahue, and told the audience at the Assist Educate Defeat Foundation event how growing up he seemed to be an unlikely candidate to become an addict.

“I grew up in a nice house in Lunenburg with a twin sister and younger brother. I had everything I ever wanted. It was not a hard childhood,” he said.

Despite having strong family support, Mr. Donahue said he began experimenting with marijuana as a means to cope with not feeling like he fit in as an adolescent.

Once he was able to drive, his drug use became more habitual, expanded to alcohol and eventually to Percocet pills.

He said at the time he thought he could try just one Percocet and not become addicted.

“When I got high, I thought, ‘If I could feel this way for the rest of my life I’ll be OK.’ I got high because I liked the way it felt, plain and simple,” he said.

As his high school years progressed, he would steal from his parents to support his habit. After high school, he was kicked out of a trade school for robbing someone.

“I was going to my parents’ house and taking everything that wasn’t bolted down,” he said.

His condition continued to worsen as a young adult, to the point that he would shoot up heroin at work and would smoke marijuana every day while in a treatment program.
“Everything was still getting worse. I was walking around wishing I was dead,” he said.

Through his parents’ support and the Alcoholics Anonymous program, he was ultimately able to curb his addiction through a monthlong detox program and receiving peer counseling from other addicts who had achieved recovery.

His mother, Donna Donahue, said that peer counseling helped him not feel ashamed for his condition because he was receiving help from others who had been through the same thing.

“They cleansed themselves through writing and ridding themselves of past experiences,” she said.

“We’re sold on the 12 steps (used in the AA program), but unfortunately insurance doesn’t cover it,” said George Donahue, Michael’s father.

Now sober, Michael Donahue is able to reflect on his past and live a healthier life.

“Before all this I didn’t realize what I put my parents through. Things are going really good right now. I owe it all to the program and my parents for sticking by me,” he said.
Michael Barros spoke about how his family has a history of alcoholism that he eventually became a part of.

He said that he cannot exactly remember when he had his first drink, but after his father died in a construction accident when he was a freshman in high school, he felt “entitled” to drink more.

“I thought I deserved to let out some steam,” he said.

Throughout his high school years in Massachusetts, Mr. Barros still maintained good grades and was a successful athlete. He continued playing football in college.

As a senior in college, he had a shoulder injury that sidelined him, leading him to take prescription painkillers and without the commitment of playing a sport.

“In a matter of months I became a daily user. I had no frame of reference to realize how sick I was,” he said.

He progressed to using heroin, which he initially believed was the only thing he had to stop using in order to recover.

However, he continued to abuse alcohol, which worsened when he acquired a job in London as a bartender.

“Every day I woke up knowing nothing good was coming for me,” he said.

The turning point for Mr. Barros was coming back to the States and receiving a bed at the Pathway House, a sober facility for young men run by the social services organization GAAMHA, in exchange for being sober for two weeks.

Around the same time as being at Pathway House, he was asked to be the godfather for his friend’s daughter. Six days after the daughter’s birth, his friend was involved in a traumatic accident resulting in a brain injury.

“For five months I went to pick up her up to bring her to him. That experience really showed me that the only chance I have to help the people I love is through recovery,” Mr. Barros said.

Mr. Barros cited his experience as an example that addicts need both support from their communities and have a role to play in them.

“People need to see that they have a future,” he said.

Sean Hayden, business director at GAAMHA, said Mr. Barros’s story shows why people cannot give up on addicts.

“Here’s a guy that by all means we should have given up on. Fast forward a few years and now Mike is a general manager for a company with 67 people. Treatment works and it’s always worth it,” he said.

At the end of the AED event, Mr. Donahue was asked what the best part of being in recovery from addiction is.

“Honestly, just being OK. All I’ve ever wanted to be is OK. That’s the best thing,” he said.