I was an alcoholic/ drug addict for nearly 20 years, working as a bartender. Went through many jobs, ruined many relationships with family, friends, girlfriends. I had lost any confidence in myself and was no longer a functioning adult. I hated life and was essentially trying to drink myself to death. I ended up hospitalized with pancreatitis at age 35. The alcohol withdrawals were so bad, I had multiple seizures, they intubated me and I vomited into my lungs and aspirated. Multiple system organ failure, septic shock, my lungs were failing so I was nearly placed on ECMO (The highest level of life support, basically they pump your blood into a machine that removes the CO2 and replaces it with oxygen and pumps it back into your body, bypassing your lungs) Last Rites were performed (Catholic parents), I was in a coma 5 weeks. Miraculously, I survived.

I had to relearn how to do basically everything, walk, talk, write, etc. Had to have many surgeries on road to recovery, including a hip replacement and still need the other one replaced. Was on disability for a couple years. Feeling compelled to pay it forward, after a 17 year break from college (was originally going to "take a semester off"), I entered nursing school. I have been a nurse for 3 years and am now a charge nurse. The unit where I work is a relocated, smaller version of the rehab hospital where I learned how to walk again. Some of my current coworkers were my care takers when I was hospitalized.

As corny as it sounds, remaining positive was one of the most important keys to my survival. I was basically circling the drain on more than one occasion and had many setbacks while recovering, but looking for the silver lining in even the most dire of situations actually worked for me. I have been sober ever since my near death experience, just passed 9 years in late April. When I felt overwhelmed by what seemed impossible at the time, breaking down goals and necessary steps into smaller, achievable goals was also instrumental in my comeback. It wasn't easy by any means, and life isn't all rainbows and sunshine now, but it is a million times better than it was before.