Danny Ellerd was discovered beneath an Interstate 40 bridge, weighing simply 92 kilos after years of struggling to outlive on the streets. Right this moment, his outstanding journey reveals how a person overcomes habit and homelessness to rebuild his life after coming near shedding it.
Now sober, married, and a university graduate, Danny can be a father who works as a housing information, serving to folks experiencing homelessness. His path to a brand new life started with a hospital keep that turned a turning level in his restoration.
Danny’s habit left him feeling like an empty individual
Danny Ellerd shares his battle with habit and discovering a path ahead. Supply: YouTubeDanny started utilizing medication as a young person. Small and quiet, he struggled to slot in and was teased by different youngsters. By tenth grade, medication had turn into a approach to escape the painful emotions that got here with being completely different.
“It form of simply took away all the sentiments I had about feeling completely different and numbed every little thing,” Danny mentioned.
Later, after shoulder surgical procedure, medical doctors prescribed him the painkillers Dilaudid and oxycodone. When the prescriptions ran out, Danny started shopping for tablets on his personal.
For years, he managed to maintain a job whereas hiding the extent of his drug use. Finally, nonetheless, his life started to unravel.
Round 2018 or 2019, Danny misplaced his residence. For about three years, he slept exterior retailer buildings, in tents, and beneath freeway bridges.
His habit turned so extreme that he wanted medication each 4 to 6 hours to keep away from turning into critically ailing. Discovering meals turned much less essential than discovering medication. He additionally struggled with diabetes and skilled repeated overdoses.
Wanting again on that interval, Danny described how fully habit had taken over his life.
“I wasn’t accountable for myself. The medication managed me. I had turn into a totally hole, empty individual,” Danny advised HIA.
His father refused to cease in search of him
As Danny’s habit worsened, his dad and mom tried repeatedly to assist him. However their love couldn’t undo the harm the medication had been inflicting, and ultimately, he may now not keep of their residence.
Belief had turn into tough. Danny knew how deeply his habit had affected their relationship.
“I burned that bridge down with them,” he mentioned.
Even so, his father, Mark Ellerd, by no means stopped trying to find him. Mark knew the areas the place Danny was residing on the streets and would drive by means of them, hoping to seek out him alive.
One afternoon, Mark noticed Danny standing on a road nook close to his office. He pulled over, known as his son right into a car parking zone, and gave him some cash.
Mark needed to convey Danny residence instantly. However he had tried taking his son residence earlier than, and the drug use had continued.
“I needed to place him within the trunk with me and take him residence,” Mark says. His voice breaks. He pauses earlier than gathering himself and persevering with.
Regardless of the ache of leaving his son behind, Mark knew that bringing him residence once more with no completely different plan wouldn’t remedy the issue. He couldn’t have identified then how a person overcomes habit and homelessness, however he by no means stopped hoping Danny would discover a method ahead.
A terrifying hospital keep turned a turning level
Later, two males had been in search of Danny as a result of he had failed to seem in court docket. Mark knew the place his son was staying and made the tough determination to inform them the place to seek out him.
He believed Danny can be safer in jail than on the streets, the place he had little entry to meals and will proceed utilizing medication.
“I knew that on the streets, I imply, he’s acquired no meals. He’s acquired entry to medication,” Mark says. “He’s going to have meals, and he’s not going to have entry to medication in jail. So I’m pondering, my ideas are that that is the higher of the 2.”
When the boys discovered Danny, nonetheless, a nurse on the jail acknowledged that he was too sick to stay there. He was taken to an emergency room as a substitute.
Danny’s diabetes was poorly managed, and he had a extreme arm an infection linked to drug use. Docs labored to deal with the an infection and save his arm.
For Mark, seeing his son in that situation was heartbreaking. The opportunity of shedding Danny had turn into painfully actual.
“A father’s not supposed to look at his son die like this,” Mark advised him.
Seeing his father cry helped Danny acknowledge how shut he had come to the tip of his life.
“I simply I’m not gonna make it,” he remembers pondering. “This would be the finish.”
Danny spent a few month within the hospital, the place he underwent surgical procedure and acquired remedy. When he was prepared to go away, returning to the streets was not a protected choice.
His dad and mom helped him enter a sober-living residence, the place he discovered construction, guidelines, and the help of different folks working to remain sober.
This time, Danny started shifting towards a distinct future.
Sober residing helped Danny rebuild his future
After years of specializing in getting by means of the subsequent few hours, Danny started to think about what his life may turn into with out medication.
At a gathering, he discovered a few program at Oklahoma State College-Oklahoma Metropolis designed for individuals who had skilled homelessness or substance use issues. He utilized and was accepted.
Danny excelled in his courses and earned a two-year scholarship that lined most of his faculty prices. He went on to earn two levels in pc data techniques and enterprise growth. He additionally took extra courses in nonprofit administration.
His training opened a brand new path for somebody whose life had as soon as revolved round discovering medication and surviving on the streets.
Right this moment, Danny works for Metropolis Care in Oklahoma as a housing information, serving to folks experiencing homelessness.
His father has watched the transformation with a mix of delight and amazement.
“I simply suppose, in my wildest desires, I by no means thought he can be the place he’s right now,” Mark tells TODAY.com. “He’s far exceeded my desires for his life.”
Danny has now been free from medication for greater than 5 years. He’s additionally married and elevating a younger son together with his spouse.
How a person overcomes habit and homelessness to assist others rebuild their lives
Danny’s work connects him with folks going through circumstances he is aware of firsthand. He understands what it means to stay exterior, battle with habit, and face an unsure future.
Serving to folks in related conditions additionally reminds him of how far he has come.
“After I return and I assist folks, it jogs my memory of the place I got here from,” he says. “I feel that connection of going again and serving to others retains me on the straight path.”
His household has additionally been in a position to share within the life he has constructed. Danny’s dad and mom attended his wedding ceremony on September 7. His mom helped with the decorations, and his father helped put together the meals.
For Mark, seeing his son turn into a husband and father represents a future he as soon as struggled to think about.
Danny celebrated 5 years of sobriety on September 4. On the time of the unique account, his son, Benjamin, was 10 months previous.
The change in Danny’s life is putting. After years of habit and homelessness, he has constructed a household, earned a university training, and located significant work serving to others discover steady housing. His story doesn’t erase the years of struggling. Nonetheless, it reveals what turned attainable when he acquired one other alternative and labored to take advantage of it.
Wanting again on the time he lived in a tent and feared he won’t survive, Danny recalled the promise he had made to himself.
“I keep in mind laying in my tent and I used to be most likely about lifeless, saying, ‘If I had yet another probability, I might do it proper.’ And I acquired that probability and I did.”
Danny’s story reveals why a second probability can matter
Danny’s restoration didn’t occur in isolation. His dad and mom continued to look after him by means of years of worry and disappointment, and his hospital keep led to a chance for structured help and a brand new route.
His journey additionally reveals that restoration can result in greater than leaving medication behind. Danny went on to pursue an training, construct a household, and discover significant work serving to folks going through homelessness.
Each restoration journey is completely different, however Danny’s life right now gives a strong reminder that an individual’s hardest years don’t have to outline the remainder of their story.
Watch Danny Ellerd’s inspiring story by way of HIA and uncover how a person overcomes habit and homelessness to rebuild his life and assist others.
