Stories

Recovering Addict Finds Hope

“I want it to be said that I loved people as Christ did.”

By CM Bell Company

You’re going to die,” the emergency department doctor said. “There’s nothing we can do for you, so you need to get your life in order.”

Years as a heroine user had left Bob Page with a case of Hepatitis C that had precipitated liver failure. As he listened to the grim pronouncement, it seemed that the end was near.

A Path of Pain

Bob was only nine years old when he began using drugs. Hoping to find relief from frustrations at home, he joined the Marines but soon was released on charges of burglary. In the ensuing years, Bob found himself in and out of jail. Although he made numerous attempts to turn his life around, Bob eventually found himself surrounded by friends who lured him back into drugs.

At 20, Bob married, and as the years passed, he worried that his life as a heavy equipment operator wouldn’t provide him with adequate retirement resources. He began growing and distributing marijuana and soon was earning a lucrative income.

Yet despite the financial rewards, Bob’s life was unraveling. His relationship with his wife was strained. His mind was no longer clear. He found himself frequently unable to function. And the Hepatitis C had now brought him face to face with his own mortality.

Finding Hope

At 57 and in dire straights, Bob was admitted to the hospital. After hearing the emergency department physician’s bleak prognosis, Bob’s own physician was called in. He asked to transfer Bob to Porter Adventist Hospital in order for Bob to be put on a waiting list for a liver transplant.

There, Bob met with a surgeon who offered him a message of hope. Bob recalls, “He put his face two inches from mine and said, ‘I want you to understand that I am going to save your life, so get yourself in as good a shape as you can.’

“I started spending lots of time reading about the hospital and about Adventists, and I was impressed with their three-fold approach to healing—focusing on the spiritual, mental and physical,” says Bob. “The people there were very kind.”

It wasn’t long before the hospital located a liver donor.

“I know I must have driven everyone crazy, because for three days after the liver transplant surgery, I sang ‘Amazing Grace.’ I just felt so alive,” he says. “I could feel the energy going through my body, giving me back everything I had lost.”

During that hospital stay, he awoke one night, unable to sleep. He turned on the television and found himself watching a program featuring a re-enactment of Christ’s crucifixion. “For the first time, I understood the love that Christ had for me. I saw that there was a reason I was alive—it wasn’t just a fluke. At that moment, my life changed.”

A New Beginning

With a new lease on life, Bob decided to find a church family. He looked for the nearest Seventh-day Adventist church and, to his surprise, was met at the door by the pastor, a recovering addict who had been “clean” for 21 years. Bob immediately felt a sense of camaraderie. On Christmas Eve, he was baptized.

Today, Bob is a driving force in the Denver Narcotics Anonymous program, a deacon at his local church and active in his own Bible study. And because of his personal journey, he’s now helping his church establish a program to support those who are struggling with drugs.

“I’m not a preacher, but I’m here to plant seeds,” says Bob. “When people see my serenity and ask how I have gotten to this place, I tell them it’s because I know Christ is beside me. He’s my strength, my courage. You’re not capable of doing this on your own.”

This article is submitted by Stephen King, senior vice president for mission and ministry for Colorado’s Adventist hospitals, and written by CMBell Company.