A better line, the finish line –
Feb. 15, 2019 – Their recourse was to give out painkillers,” he said. Even when he deployed to Iraq. “I thought I had food poisoning and actually I was going through withdrawals and didn’t know it,” Livingston explained. “So that feeling became all the more familiar and started happening more frequently until eventually getting sick was an everyday thing.” When he returned, he sought treatment but continued to struggle and turned to heroin.
“Painkillers became astronomically priced and then you find something that’s cheaper in price and stronger for you,” Livingston told KXAN. “Within the blink of an eye, it gets away from you. It grabs a hold of you. It doesn’t discriminate who you are, what you’re doing. It can really happen to anybody.”
Eventually, Livingston ended up getting arrested for drug possession. He realized he had to turn his life around. He said he came to Austin about two years ago for treatment and learned about a nonprofit called Back On My Feet. On its website, the group wrote it “combats homelessness through the power of running, community support and essential employment and housing resources.”
