I was born in Cuba in 1961 to a poor family in a poor town, mistreated because of my economic status. Discrimination, loneliness, sadness, and fear led me to a substance use disorder, but today I'm sober and have been working in the field of recovery.

It wasn't an easy ride. On March 20, 1997, I was desperate to die rather than continue living my life as an addict with no place to live or food to eat. I began praying to God, although I had never believed before in my life. That same day, I went to treatment and have been in recovery ever since.

Since I began my recovery, I enrolled in college and obtained an associate's degree in psychology, a bachelor's degree in applied psychology, and a double master's in clinical and counseling psychology. I started running, first around 200 meters, and have now run 10 full marathons and more than 20 half-marathons.

I own three homes, and I plan to start a recovery home. I also wrote and developed a treatment program, "We Can Recover," for a treatment facility. As part of Recovery Month, I was honored to be selected as the 2010 Recovery Project Delegate for the State of Kansas. None of this would have been possible, if it wasn't for the first step I made towards recovery.