Testimonial
Testimonial
My name is Eddy and my Higher Power is Jesus Christ. I am a Recovering Alcoholic who struggles with Food Addiction. I have no early memory of my father but I was told he was abusing my mother and was dangerous when he was drunk, which was most of the time. So my mother separated from my father in 1972 and we moved to Claremont, New Hampshire. We attended Mass at the Catholic Church every Sunday and I was an Altar Boy for five years.
Some time later, while in the Navy, I was sexually assaulted by a superior officer. Naturally the trauma from these assaults made me angry and shameful. I escaped the pain with more and more booze. The Submarine Squadron Psychiatrists diagnosed me with anxiety disorder and disqualified me from submarine duty. I committed a crime while I was drunk and was sentenced to the Brig for one month. I was sent away to a six-week drug and alcohol treatment center. It was then I was exposed to my first 12-step group of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Shortly after, I was sent home with an Honorable Discharge to Claremont, New Hampshire. I started seeing a Psychiatrist at the V.A. Hospital in White River Jct., Vermont about the assault that happened to me in the Navy. They diagnosed me with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) resulting from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
After many years in and out of addiction recovery, then relapses due to my work as a chef with ready access to all the alcohol I desired, by God’s power through another AA meeting and a new job in an alcohol free environment as Chef in the Dietary Department of a hospital in Springfield, New Hampshire, I finally found freedom from the powerful attachment to alcohol.
Early in my recovery when I was sober 3 years in AA, I was diagnosed “morbidly obese.” I was given a food plan and a support group in Overeater’s Anonymous that nurtured me back to a healthy weight. I lost over 100 pounds and thanks to my higher power-Jesus Christ, I’ve been able to maintain the weight loss.
Today, I help educate and encourage others through the sharing of my testimony and support in Celebrate Recovery and secular 12 Step meetings. My goal is to host a flourishing Jesus Christ-12 Step centered Journey to Wholeness recovery group for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Concord, New Hampshire.