WATCH – And just getting started –
Jan. 1, 2021 – “I probably should have gone to detention, but my dad fought to get me treatment,” Allen recalls. Allen didn’t join YSS quietly. “I fought it tooth and nail for six weeks. I couldn’t stand authority; I couldn’t stand being told what to do,” he said. Then Allen had a breakthrough. After stealing a cigarette and smoking it, he felt the guilt of what he had done set in. “Over the course of about 30 minutes, it was in my chest and I had a hard time breathing; it was in my neck and I could hardly swallow. I found myself in the bathroom of 712 Burnette on my knees crying like a baby thinking, ‘I can’t keep living like this anymore,’” Allen said. Allen was sober until December 31, 1995. On New Year’s Eve, he relapsed, so the next day, he started his sobriety all over again.
“I am lucky not to be in prison … or dead,” he said. Over the ensuing years, Allen carved out a successful career with a Fortune 500 company. Allen recalls, however, something was still missing.
