NPORTC Magazine

CLIENT SHARES His Journey

LEROY BAGWELL: PREVIOUS CLIENT

L eroy was in an intolerable living situation, from rats and mice to relationship problems. There was another issue, too: “I took my duffel bag and went to a hospital and said, “I'm a crack addict.” He’d tried getting help before. “Now, mind you, I'm visually impaired—I'm legally blind. I went over to a program several years back. The director sat me down. He wanted to hear my story, so I told him.” Leroy laughs, “His first question was, ‘How can a blind man smoke crack?’ I said I don't do too bad, and I was taught very well how to do it . . . and I enjoyed the feeling, but it was slowly killing me.” Leroy didn’t realize until he read the literature about fentanyl just how dangerous it was. And then he found out for himself. “I got stuff loaded with fentanyl. It took me somewhere I’d never been before. I said, ‘Good God, this stuff is strong!’” This time, he was ready to make a change. “I realized I needed to get help, so I went to the hospital. Ms. Nnenna came to see me on a Friday and took me in that Monday, so I spent that final weekend in the hospital, and then I came in here on February 22nd. That’s when she opened

the first house. I was the first client.” That was back when there was only one house—now there are two, along with ten residents. Leroy dedicated himself to getting healthy. “I completed the whole program. I graduated all three phases.” He has one last step he’s looking forward to: “The only thing now is my own housing. I’m just waiting to obtain it, and I'm just taking my time because I know my Lord is on the throne. He’s going to see me get housing sooner or later, so I'm just waiting on him and taking one step at a time. Right now, I am still living in the New Place of Recovery house.”

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