If You Got A Heartbeat, You Got HopeIf You Got A Heartbeat, You Got Hope
I Love Being Sober
Tim Ryan shares his journey from decades of addiction, prison and the loss of his son to a life centred on recovery, service and faith. The conversation highlights trauma, systemic issues in treatment, and how honest support, structure and community can keep hope alive as long as a person’s heart is still beating.
1:22:51•3 Nov 2026
If You’ve Got a Heartbeat, You’ve Got Hope: Tim Ryan’s Journey from Heroin to Healing
Episode Overview
- Unaddressed trauma, adoption issues and learning difficulties can quietly fuel addiction for years until they are named and treated.
- A strong combination of a good therapist, a committed sponsor and consistent step work can radically change a person’s life.
- Recovery is possible even after extreme consequences such as prison, multiple overdoses and the death of a child.
- Effective treatment demands structure, honesty, long-term care and genuine human connection, not just luxury settings.
- Daily practices like prayer, meditation, meetings and gratitude help keep ego and pride in check and support ongoing sobriety.
“"If you've got a heartbeat, you've got hope. If Tim Ryan can get sober, anybody can."”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? For Tim Ryan, it took 32 years of addiction, eight overdoses, a prison sentence and the death of his son to finally say, "If you've got a heartbeat, you've got hope." This raw conversation between host Tim Westbrook and Tim Ryan pulls no punches.
You’ll hear a brutally honest account of going from a top-earning executive shooting heroin in the Wrigley Building to detoxing in a prison cell, defecating and vomiting for two weeks, and then finding recovery with a cellmate known as Big Perk and a worn-out AA big book. Tim’s line, "Drugs and alcohol were much more important to me than my wife and four kids," hits hard—but so does the way he turned that wreckage into service.
The episode focuses on trauma, adoption, learning difficulties, abuse, and how those unspoken wounds can fuel addiction for decades.
Tim shares how he came to see his adoption and childhood abuse as core wounds, and why he now says, "All people need today is a good therapist and a great sponsor and your life will change tremendously." You’ll also get a candid critique of the treatment industry: insurance games, glossy centres with "smoke and mirrors", and why he thinks most programmes are too short and too shallow.
He talks about MAT, harm reduction, and why structure, community, and long-term support matter more than palm trees and swimming pools. Along the way he brings in humour, faith, and tough love, whether he’s talking about meditation, gang chiefs turned babysitters, or telling someone straight: "Fuck your feelings.
They're not facts." If you’ve ever wondered whether your situation is too far gone, this story might make you ask a different question: as long as your heart’s still beating, what are you going to do with it today?
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