Growing Up In Haunted Houses, "Stealing" Someone's Dad, Ecstasy, Weed, Intentional Unconsciousness, Criminal Activity and then Finally Becoming a Girl Dad Changes HIs Life

Growing Up In Haunted Houses, "Stealing" Someone's Dad, Ecstasy, Weed, Intentional Unconsciousness, Criminal Activity and then Finally Becoming a Girl Dad Changes HIs Life

Interested in the personal battles against addiction? This conversation follows Chad, a former Utah football hopeful who swaps Friday night lights for painkillers, ecstasy and, eventually, heroin and fentanyl. Growing up between New England and Utah, Chad leans into aggression, boxing and football while also living in what he describes as multiple “haunted houses” – black silhouettes, slamming doors and a dog growling at unseen figures.

That early sense of chaos and fear sits in the background when a brutal knee injury in high school opens the door to Percocet. Knowing opiates run in his family, he tries to dodge them, turning instead to weed, ecstasy and cocaine… until the line blurs and OxyContin, heroin and crime follow.

He talks openly about selling drugs, breaking into houses (including accidentally “stealing someone’s dad” – an urn of ashes he later throws from a car), and doing ecstasy so hard he and his mates literally choke each other out to intensify the high. The real gut punch comes later: smoking heroin in a closet while his young daughter sleeps in the next room, or driving around scoring while she’s in the back seat.

When his sober brother Drew tells him, “You’re no good to your daughter,” something finally cuts through. Chad heads to detox at SCRC in California, gets a sponsor quickly, and throws himself into 12‑step work. He shares how the obsession to use lifts, why he still prays and hits the gym, and how he now works in recovery alongside Drew.

Most moving is how his relationship with his daughter is changing; when he’s with her now, he says he’s fully present, not planning the next hit. If you’ve ever wondered whether being a better parent can really pull someone back from the edge, this story might make you reconsider what’s possible.