EPISODE 042426

EPISODE 042426

What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? Clean and Sober Radio brings that question to life with long-time listener and recovery advocate Mike Burke, who shares what 41 years without a drink really looks like. Hosted by Gary Hendler and co-host Mark Sigmund, the show blends recovery chat with current issues, starting with stark news on opioid prescribing by dentists and the Purdue Pharma settlement.

Those segments set the stage for a bigger theme: how systems, painkillers and alcohol can derail lives, and how recovery communities help people claw their way back. Then the focus shifts to Mike. He talks about growing up with an alcoholic father, harsh treatment in Catholic school and a family "littered with addiction". His drinking escalated into marriage problems, and the turning point came when his wife left with their daughter.

A friend steered him towards help and into treatment at Bowling Green. He jokes that he "did the steps in like five minutes" when he first saw them on the wall, but his real commitment came later. One of the most powerful moments is Mike alone in his kitchen, newly out of rehab, finding a forgotten bottle of vodka.

"Nobody's going to know if I take a drink of this," he thought, before asking himself, "Do I want to risk my marriage, my wife, my daughter?" He calls that "a confirmed decision" to dedicate his life to sobriety. Mike describes using AA meetings, 120 in 90 days, and the support of Al-Anon, his wife and daughter to get through huge medical crises: his own collapsed lung, stage four lung cancer, and his daughter's brain tumour and long recovery.

His message stays simple and direct: "One day at a time… one minute at a time," backed up by decades of actually living it. If you’re wondering whether long-term recovery is possible, this conversation might be the proof you’ve been waiting for.