Music.
The past few years have been a blur for Bobby Jacks. He's fought an uphill battle with drugs, despair, and depression. On his way back to the man he is today. A few years ago Bobby seemed to have it all; a wife, two adorable daughters, and a good job as an emergency medical technician for a local ambulance company. But a divorce left him grieving for that life and the daughters he used to cradle in his arms.
Bobby: When my daughters were born I remember holding each one of them in the middle of the night. I was odd because I would want to do the late night feedings. I mean it was the most peaceful, awesome thing I had ever experienced, just holding them and looking at them I remember praying with everything in me that they not have a addiction or a pain that would last a lifetime.
Male speaker: When he was young, Bobby said he experimented with drugs but grew out of it. One night after his divorce he was at a club and struggling with depression. That's when he says he made one of the biggest mistakes of his life.
Bobby: Someone asked me to try this and it was something I'd never seen, it was a funny looking pipe that's not what it was back in the 80s but I said no four or five times. And uh for some reason a few drinks later at this club I said yes. And it sucked the soul out of me and I blew it out as smoke.
Male speaker: Bobby said when he worked for the ambulance company he would sometimes go on calls for people who were using meth and needles.
Bobby: I literally stood one time in a living room with this person on the couch that looked like death just skin and bones and just horrible. And my concern wasn't them. I remember thinking looking around the room trying to figure out which one of these people called because I knew he didn't and wasted my time with this trash. And then I became that very person that I despised.
Male speaker: During this low point, Bobby lost his job and all contact with his daughters. He only talked to his DHS child support caseworker when absolutely necessary. One night he was sitting in his car and had a revelation.
Bobby: As I was in that and had people around me that I never dreamed would be around me uh I remember in my car looking in that rearview mirror and seeing people smoking and pipes and drugs and I'd still have that same image of that's the back seat where I had two car seats at one time and had a wife beside me and here I am in this car with all this sin. That's what it was.
Male speaker: Bobby says he knew he had to quit the drugs or die. One day he was talking to his case manager Mike Smith and admitted he was addicted to meth. Mike says he could tell Bobby was depressed and did what he could to get him the help he needed.
Mike: I'm glad that he found his way. I think he gives me more credit than I think I deserve. Uh because like I said he did all the work. He did the heavy lifting. On my part, I was just there to encourage him. When he called, I answered and I know to me that seems minimal but talking to him you can just tell that that was over the top for him to have somebody there even though I'm not a psychologist or anything but I can be there. I was encouraging and supportive and uh that seems to be what he needed at that time, and I'm just glad I was there.
Male speaker: After six months in rehab Bobby talked to Mike and let him know he was off the drugs.
Bobby: I called him and I was happy. I was alive and he outside my family, Mike Smith is the first person that said I'm proud of you.
Male speaker: These days Bobby credits his faith in God and the help he got from DHS for turning his life around. He and Mike are working out a child support payment plan. He has a new job and life is looking up.
Bobby: I want to be a member of society and I just I used to just fight that saying tooth and nail, like be a productive member of society. I don't care about society and I don't want to be a part of it. But I do today and I want to I just want to be a better Christian, better follower of Christ, better father, better husband, better neighbor, every day.
Music.