When her alcohol use worsened, his mother finally admitted that she needed help. Jon took action and called Hazelden Betty Ford. Tragically, his mom died by suicide before she was able to get treatment.
Less than a year later, Jon noticed that his father's drinking was getting more out of control. "My father was going down the very same dark path that my mother had," he says. "I did not want to lose both my parents to this disease."
Again, Jon called Hazelden Betty Ford. His father went to residential treatment in Center City, Minnesota, where he began his journey to recovery. "He never had a drop of alcohol for the rest of his life," Jon says.
Unfortunately, Jon's family hadn't seen the end of addiction.
"My own drinking started to escalate after my mother died," he admits. "Eventually, I knew that I had a pretty bad problem with it." However, Jon was self-employed at the time, and he didn't think he could afford any kind of treatment.
Jon's father wasn't going to stand by while his son struggled with a chronic and progressive disease he knew so well. He was ready to repay a favor.
"He called Hazelden Betty Ford for me," Jon says.
Jon, too, went to treatment at Hazelden Betty Ford and put in what he calls "110% effort" into his recovery. "I never thought there would be a day when I didn't think about or crave alcohol," he says. He is proud to have reached that milestone in his long-term recovery. And he's grateful to Hazelden Betty Ford for being there to help two generations in his family find recovery and learn a new way to live.
