Rock Bottom to a Warm Life

Raegan sits down with longtime friend Leigh Abraham, who shares his journey through drug addiction, homelessness, and the bipolar diagnosis that finally helped him understand what he had been battling for years.

With honesty, humor, and perspective, Leigh reflects on the road from rock bottom to recovery.

Today, he’s married, a father of two, and says his life finally feels warm.

A conversation about addiction, mental health, friendship, faith, and finding hope after rock bottom.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This episode of Unscripted Turbulence is sponsored by Dude Wow Cocktails, bold flavor, no extra ingredients. And if you want to try them for yourself, just head to dudewowcocktails.com. Use my code Turbulence26 and get 10% off. Or just grab the link waiting for you in my bio.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

Can't take me seriously, that I look like a you look you look like you look like a celebrity.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

I am a celebrity. I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:45

I usually wear them all the time. You do? Yeah. Everybody that knows me at work, all the people that I go when I see, I always have my Ray Bans on. Because I go see sheet metal people. And in the shop you have to wear glasses. So I got Ray-Bans in the corn, I just wear them.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Are you gonna are you gonna keep them on during the interview?

SPEAKER_03 1:07

No, you're not keeping you look pretty and I want to look at you. But I'll put it I'll put it. I think so.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Oh look at this thing, a little cut. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

So Yes. This is a professional operation we've got here.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

That's the first time I've ever seen that.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

You've never seen anything like that? No. Yeah, so the reason they do that is to make the audio. Like peaks. Like so when I go to edit, there's like a peak in the audio.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

So is it started? We did it, we're ready.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:41

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Okay, here we go.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Let's start the uh the time clock now.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Oh, you're giving me a bunch of them. You know what I'm talking about? Alright, so here we go. Welcome to Unscripted Turbulence. I'm your host, Reagan Medgie. Today's episode is gonna challenge me.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

Whoops. Look at the smile I have in you already.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

You're already off. Oh, so my friend, my wonderful, sweet, funny friend, Lee Abraham, is joining us today.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

I can't believe it.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

I know.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

Nobody's ever welcomed me to anything before to talk.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Have they always said goodbye to you?

SPEAKER_03 2:21

And Well, I have to pay usually a psychologist or a psychiatrist to talk to me. You know?

SPEAKER_01 2:28

Well, yeah. Uh not today. Today is today is on me.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

Wow. Okay, here we go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

So um, so Lee and I, uh in every every episode, I talk about how I know people. And Lee has a very special place in my heart. And I say this is gonna be a challenging episode for a couple of reasons. Lee, I I find Lee to be very funny. Um, I'm really not. And he uh well sometimes, you know, you have that friend who it's all about humor, right? So we're gonna try to keep it within the reins of appropriate humor.

SPEAKER_03 3:03

I will be a good and and fine gentleman.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

You will be a fine gentleman.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Because if you don't, I can always bleep you.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

That's right. Which I'm not going to. I don't want, I don't want they're they cost money, bleeps are extra.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Well, yeah, they are. Okay. So Lee, um Lee has a an incredible story. And I want to bring this up because this is what he's what he had gone through is hitting close to home also for both of us, kind of right now. Um so this is gonna be kind of therapy for me too. All right. I have been having like moments where in podcasts I've been getting a little teary. So if I do, I don't know where it's I might too.

SPEAKER_03 3:39

You never know. You think okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Well, there's tissue.

SPEAKER_03 3:42

Um it would be tears of joy.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

There would be, but you know what? I just noticed there are the tissue box that I have.

SPEAKER_03 3:49

You're just gonna have to use your sleeve.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Well, no, I mean um well, I have a package of tissues, so I think we'll be fine. Um, so ooh, so how I know Lee. I I have known Lee since college, Temple University, and I always follow up with go owls. That's true. Um, and I've known him th since then. Also, um you know, we weren't super super duper close, but as the years went on, we got closer. And we were on the phone doing our kind of like run through call about what points we're gonna hit today. And I mentioned something to him, and this is gonna be a lesson for me too, because he's probably gonna have to correct me throughout this interview. Um because when I was explaining, like, oh, your story, I said, Well, you know, you kind of went through addiction, you went through, you got through it, and now I mean you're married, two kids, you're thriving, and you're like, Well not exactly addiction.

SPEAKER_03 4:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Hey, correct me.

SPEAKER_03 4:47

I I mean, you're correct. There was addiction involved, right? Heavily involved. And my I'd say any any time between sixteen and thirty-five, I struggled with that.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:01

Uh maybe maybe a little less than thirty-five. Well, maybe thirty-three, we'll see. Okay. Um, but it was in combination with with mental illness problems that I didn't really know I had.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Okay. So we're gonna we're gonna get into that because that was like the point where I thought, oh. And and I told him that you need to correct me through this.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

Now, this is this is a different interview for me because I don't know much about you know, it's not correcting you, it's it's just, you know, you you don't know the things that happen exactly.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

So Yeah, no, I you know, okay, so so um we'll start with what his title is today. Does that bring back TV memories? Because Lee was on TV as well at one point.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

I was. This is the this is like the first time that we've been on camera together. Since well, maybe the the emails parade. Do you remember the guy? And for anybody who knows, right? Emaus, Pennsylvania, the guy told me it was pronounced emous. This bastard told me that it was pronounced emouse. So I got up on there to do a parade with you and I was like, welcome to emouse, Pennsylvania. And it's pronounced Emmaus. Emaus. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

The guy was like, oh I I won't say a name, but I think it was the GM.

SPEAKER_03 6:14

It might have been him.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

Oh, geez. Yeah. That that was our first TV station. Oh, TV two. Service electric. Well, first TV station for us together.

SPEAKER_03 6:23

That's right. Right? So I work there, you work there.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:28

What a bizarre several years that was.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Oh gosh. Well, so now where are you right now? What's your title right now?

SPEAKER_03 6:35

You mean like my work title?

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yeah, like what you do.

SPEAKER_03 6:37

I work for my dad. My dad owns a company that his father left him, and we sell commercial diffusers, and I guess I'd be called the director of business development. Oh, okay. Yeah, I go around, I talk to people, I wear my Ray Bans like I told you about. You know, I I go in the shop and I do it.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

So doesn't he look like a celebrity? So this is the camera that you could look in and this one? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:59

This one.

SPEAKER_01 7:00

So there's well, I mean, there's three cameras that if you're watching, I look good on all of them. You do every angle. Every angle. So yeah, and then um you currently live in the Philadelphia.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

I live in Exton with with my beautiful wife, who's way out of my league. Oh. And uh my two beautiful daughters who are also way, way out of my, you know, they're just so cute and and all that. And uh my cats, my two cats.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Oh, you have two cats. What are their names?

SPEAKER_03 7:29

Pocky and Luna.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 7:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

Sweet.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

So I'm very lucky. I'm a very lucky guy.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

You are.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

So now we're gonna we're gonna go into who is Lee?

SPEAKER_03 7:41

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Now, I don't know that you know this. I think I told you earlier. Your first name is my middle name.

SPEAKER_03 7:46

Did you know that? Spelled the same name. I feel like I might remember that from a long time ago. Reagan Lee.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Reagan Lee Medgie. Wow. And then I have an added name because of my husband, who we call Pilot, because we don't want to reveal who he is. Oh, okay. So we added I added his name.

SPEAKER_03 8:03

Mr. Pilot. Mr.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Pilot, yes. Okay. Because he's so private, and I'm gonna get him on this podcast.

SPEAKER_03 8:08

But you have to put a like a plastic bag over his head so he nobody sees him or a paper bag.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

Yeah, so I have a plan. So he says no, a hard no, but I'm gonna have him on this podcast. But when the camera is like pointing in his direction, you're not gonna see him.

SPEAKER_03 8:23

Like that's all pilots sound the same.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Yeah, they do.

SPEAKER_03 8:26

Uh so nobody'll nobody will know who it is. They all sound like that. Okay, go on, go on.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

All right, so um, okay, so now, gee, so we started, so we got to know each other at Temple, and I I'm a little I'm a little muddy on the timeline, but we worked at TV2 Service Electric in Allentown, Pennsylvania. But there was also a point where you were working in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and I went down to visit because you because I got an I got an interview there because of you.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

That's right. And you pan, you you could have gotten a job there as well. They offered you a job, if I recall. I don't remember them rejecting you. Yeah, but I think I think you didn't want to go.

SPEAKER_01 9:09

You know, yeah. Oh my gosh. I know you're challenging.

SPEAKER_03 9:12

Yeah, so this is an ABC affiliate in in Virginia.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:16

And I, right prior to working there, I had just I had just, I was with my grandmother who who had uh my grandfather had his hip replaced, and I had to watch my grandmother, right? And she needed to take pain medicine and pills and whatnot. So I had a key to her safe. I had to go over there in New Jersey, and I would, I would, I would go in the safe and I would give her pills. And I was starting to use drugs again at this point. So I would say, Nanny, here's one for you, two for me. One, and I was starting to take these pills. So anyway, I ended up, I was taking Percocet and Atavan and mixing them, and I got so messed up. I ended up going downstairs from her apartment in my car, got in my car, tried to turn on Route 73. I had no wheel on the car. I had hit the like the blockade. Oh my God. And hit another car. And I was in like a partial blackout, and uh somebody flagged me down, and uh I got out of the car, and I'm all messed up. Okay, and I sit down and the cops come. Cops looking at me, he's like, Something's not right with you. There's something not right, but you're not drunk. Something's not right. So he he puts me in handcuffs, they searched my car, there was no drugs in my car.

SPEAKER_01 10:28

Oh my godly, I never knew this.

SPEAKER_03 10:29

Yeah, this is a real story. There's no drugs in my car. There was like a pot pipe they found in there, somewhere buried or whatever, and they charged me with possession of a paraphernalia. But they took me to a police station, chained me to a bench, handcuffed me for like four hours while I like threw up because I was so f messed up, right? Um, and then the guy, you know, they let me out. They they didn't charge me with with a DUI or anything, but they gave me a stack of tickets like this big.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 10:56

You know, with like thousands of dollars in fines. And I had to go to the uh, you know, uh probation department in New Jersey. And uh I got, you know, had a whole trial, and that was a f about a month before I went down to Virginia to go be a weatherman.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Okay, let's rewind. Yeah. Oh, okay. Um now this is a this is a topic I haven't yet to address on my pod. And um it was something I wanted to, and I was I was trying to figure out, you know, you know, you know, you know certain people in your life where this is has impacted, and I'm thinking, whoo, whoo, who? And one day I sound like an owl. Whoo-hoo, whoo, hoo, hoo, who um, who do who? And uh we were on the phone and you were talking to me about your journey. And I didn't realize, I mean, first of all, that I didn't know. And I didn't realize all of what it was. And I thought, oh my God, God gave me the person, it's you. Because I really feel like you're I sit and I listen, now the lee that you're experiencing right now as the conversation goes, I think we're gonna like loosen up a little bit and have giggles, but like, because right, it's it's this is stunning to have to talk about this and and what have you. Um, but uh I didn't I didn't know that. Oh, there's a lot you're talking about. Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:04

There's nobody know.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

I mean, you know, only I would know. Yeah. So again, you are going to take me where you want to. If there's an area where you don't want to go down, we're not gonna go down there.

SPEAKER_03 12:16

Um it'll be okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Okay. Um, but uh you mentioned you started using drugs at 16. Yeah. You know, but do you want to go?

SPEAKER_03 12:27

Like I don't know where how like I what like why it was normal-ish at that, you know, like I wasn't doing anything outrageous. Right. It didn't really get outrageous until, you know, when I got older and and also mixed in, you know, episodes of mental illness. So, you know, even when I wasn't doing drugs, I was doing crazy things. Like, you know, when I was a weatherman writing, you know, I like like instead of forecasting the weather, I was writing I I Love Little Boys in the Clouds and getting fired from television stations. That was a good forecast, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

That was a good forecast. Okay. I was right on.

unknown 13:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

All right. So here we go. So this is where we're going with this conversation in this uh moment. So a little backstory. This was at TV2 in Service Electric Cable TV in Allentown, Pennsylvania. I can't believe this is a true story, but this is such a true, and I I don't know if I I think I have a copy of I I think I hope not. No, no, I think it was burned on a DVD. Like you know, these bloopers. Yeah, okay. Because I have a whole I have a whole bloopers. Burn them. I will probably burn maybe I don't have this, but anyway, so what happened was we were we worked at this station. There, uh the the met the weather guy, Lee is actually a meteorologist too, right? So he blows me out of the water with meteorology.

SPEAKER_03 13:42

Tattoo.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

You got a tattoo. What what hurricane what you want to say it?

SPEAKER_03 13:45

Yeah, you wanna Blizzard of 93 on on the left arm?

SPEAKER_01 13:49

This is true. Blizzard of 93, right there. Yeah, okay, so bastardy, look at that. Okay, well, look at this camera and explain what what we're looking at.

SPEAKER_03 13:57

This is the Blizzard of 93, a satellite image, right? The satellite image of Blizzard of 93.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Yeah. There you have it.

SPEAKER_03 14:08

But yeah, I was I was with uh with Regan as a weatherman, I think.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Yeah, so he was a weatherman and then and the owner of the company. Don't tell his name. Uh no, no, because I don't want to get arrested. Make sure this microphone is like to your phone.

SPEAKER_03 14:21

I didn't get arrested the first time. I don't want to get arrested this time.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

You're not gonna get arrested. We don't we don't mention names. Um geez. So uh so the the owner of the company was also weather man there too. And he was very unique. And there was a situation where Lee spent all day on this forecast. I remember you were like really and at that time I think I was an anchor and a reporter. You did a little bit of everything, yeah, and you were so mad because you spent the whole day forecasting only for him to come in at the last minute and just take over I remember your forecast, right? Yeah. So then you were so angry that you in the the white clouds, and because of graphics. It was really small, but it was small, but it was graphics and and you I did that.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

I wrote and you wrote like little boys or something in the clouds.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

I like little boys.

SPEAKER_03 15:17

And uh I got fired.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Because when it aired on TV.

SPEAKER_03 15:22

I forgot to erase it.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

You could see it.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

And it didn't blend in with the clouds or whatever you're trying you were mad, and we all the joke didn't go over so well when you aired on live television, apparently. But um, you know, the joke's on them because when I got unemployment benefits, because this dumb company paid me like 4,000 units by accident in one week, uh-huh, I got more money on unemployment than I did when I got paid when I was working there. And I got like a lot from them because they messed up.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Okay. Well, yeah. So uh that's a so when that happened, uh, we were kind of like, oh my God. So then you then you left. Now you went to, did you go at that time we were talking, you you said that were you dabbling in anything at that time? No, because I just I thought you were fine. Like well, I mean, how could I be fine if I did that? I guess I I guess.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Yeah, it was starting to experience some bounce of like manic episodes and mental illness. And uh, you know, we were married. I was married, not we were married, I was married to a mutual friend. Yes, it was very short-lived.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 16:37

We uh uh I was married to a mutual friend, and uh I started to suffer from like depression at at one point and um you know started to like try to take medicine and people told me like you have a mental illness problem, and I was like, nah, that's not true. Yeah, and I went like that for many years uh until it got so bad. And I know you read this thing that I wrote or whatever, I don't know if you'll probably talk about it maybe, but uh you know, you don't necessarily know something's happening to you, right, until it becomes so apparent you can't avoid it. Yeah. And that it became the the mental illness, the episodes became so obvious that even I was like, wait a minute, I'm like that freaking dude on television that's like in the corner, like you know, sliding up against a wall.

SPEAKER_02 17:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:24

Yeah, that's me. You know, at that point it was not anything.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

So this was happening while you were working, uh starting uh to happen while you were working at TV too.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

Yeah. And then it carried over, and when I was working at the ABC station, yeah, you know, that's when I ended up getting arrested for prescription fraud and thrown in, you know, you know, taken to the the police station again this time. But I was a television weatherman in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and people were laughing. They were like, hey, weatherman, what's the weather now? Locked up in the in the slammer with the cuffs. So people knew me. You know. Oh. And that was the that was the beginning, that was the end of it, you know. The the major problems. And I started on a better trajectory after that.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

So how did you get so we were doing you were popping pills, so that's because I for whatever reason I thought you were doing harder drugs.

SPEAKER_03 18:18

I don't I was at one point, but you know mo most of it wasn't, you know, most of it was like prescription based, like Adderall, Ritalin, stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 18:29

And it started with Adderall?

SPEAKER_03 18:30

Yeah, yeah. And I was there was a reporter that was working at uh at the TV three station with me. I don't know if her name, her name, um I mean I do remember it, but I don't want to say it out loud. I was stealing the pills out of her bag. Wait sometimes at TV two. No, three. Three. Oh, the difference. See, I went one from one to three two to three. I went up. Oh, okay. Really? Yeah. It was this bad, it was a very bad addiction. And, you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Was it just cause to get the high? Because again, I I've never I've never went the pill route. Like, I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 19:01

Well, there's still time, Regan. See, this is what I mean. This is you can try it any time. It's right there for you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Okay, no. Um, but I I I I don't like you just couldn't stop.

SPEAKER_03 19:18

You can't stop until something catastrophic happens. Okay. But when that does happen, you have a time period where you can now address it. You know, because you're either in jail or you're in a rehab or you're, you know, you're somewhere where you can't do it for a couple of days or a month or whatever. And then you have a shot then. So to get better.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

I like you're so when you had that situation happen with the police and getting cuffed to the bench in Harrisonburg, Virginia?

SPEAKER_03 19:48

No, this was in New Jersey. This was that's right, in New Jersey. Before Harrisonburg. Yeah, yes, right before Harrisonburg.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Things started changing and going different. Because at one point you also told me like you went you went through it. So you said that was it right that you were like homeless at one point? Or was that a few years? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, God, this the story keeps getting yeah. Well, the reason why is and the reason why I know that is because as I said earlier um in my introduction, you and I have a mutual friend who is going through something right now. And this episode hits close to home.

SPEAKER_03 20:23

Won't name names, but his stuff is in my basement right now.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Okay, well, we yes. Um we won't name names. Um very good friend of ours. And I've been friends with this person since oh God, uh middle school.

SPEAKER_02 20:37

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

And it's really painful and it's hard to watch your friend just continue to make the wrong decision. And for me, I'm like, just get better. I don't under I don't under I know it there's addiction, there's mental health. I again I'm out of my league with this. I don't I just want we want him to get better. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:57

That's kind of why we're here. I mean that that that event kind of brought us a little closer, I think, over the last six months.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Because we all started talking about our friend and trying to um this guy. Oh, yeah. Trying to it'd be easier because it I'm getting all mixed up here. But you know, we're we're trying to get him help and we're you know, you go on a I I I don't know if it was I was on a crusade or whatever, and I I tried to reach out to all of our friends together on a big text thread, which he found out about, but it is what it is because how did he find out? I don't he did, I don't know. No wasn't me. It wasn't me. Um, but he somehow, I guess somebody slept, and it doesn't matter because the reason we were all talking on this thread was to kind of figure out like the stories he was saying, do they all match up? Where is he? What is going on? Why is he doing this? Why is he doing that? Where is he? Why is he all of that? So I I got absorbed into this, and we all kind of went together in this text thread and kind of keeping each other, you know, informed of the next step. He's getting help now.

SPEAKER_03 22:00

I think doing okay, doing better.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Yeah. From what I know. Yeah. I mean, you're in touch. The homeless thing you were saying is Yeah, because then that's what got rut. Be like, well, he has to hit rock bottom. Like I was homeless.

SPEAKER_03 22:10

I ended up I ended up um my current wife, right? I got into some trouble and um I got arrested again because I was I was in a car like doing drugs somewhere in a parking lot, and uh the cop a copy. How long ago was this? Oh, this was about 15 years ago.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

This that was the last time I got in trouble, about 15 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

Okay. And you were married at the time?

SPEAKER_03 22:33

Married at the time.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Kids, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

No. Okay. Just me and Noy, and then uh Noy's my wife. And then I um went to like a mental institute. I had no money and no health insurance. So I ended up going to like a state-ish mental institution for like however long that period is that you you're allowed to go for like 72 hours or whatever. And then um when they were gonna let me out, I didn't have anywhere to go. My parents wouldn't take me. My wife said I couldn't come back until I got better, and um I didn't have any money. So I went to the Salvation Army in Erie, Pennsylvania. So you want to talk about shite, okay? You want to talk about tough, okay. This white Jew living in the Salvation Army in of all places, Erie, Pennsylvania, which has got some really rough areas. Yeah. And uh I stayed there for about six months until I got kicked out for stealing my own cell phone out of out of storage. Because you're not allowed to have back then you weren't. Now you can. But back in that back then, 15 years ago, you were had to put your cell phone away.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 23:42

Because I guess too many people were getting access to drugs and things like that, and they didn't want to, you know, the people to have any um means. But uh, you know, I was riding around Erie on a bicycle, you know, with no phone, and it was kind of dangerous.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Where were you sleeping? Where were you, how are you getting?

SPEAKER_03 24:01

Um they have like um an adult rehabilitation center, okay, all across the cities in the United States where you can stay for free. You go there and you work. You can either work in the uh like the clothing department, sorting the clothes, or you can work at the front desk um or work um in the warehouse, you know, processing the goods that they take that they sell at their stores, basically. So it's like a quid pro quo. You work, they give you housing, they give you shelter, food, um, like$14 a week back then they gave you as a stipend. Oh my god. And um they had a little, you know, a little program that you would work for your addiction where you would go to a counselor and you'd go to church and pray and all that stuff, and you know what? It freaking worked. It worked, it gave me just enough time away to let some kind of spiritual something enough to get in there that says, you know what, you got a problem, it's all it is, is a problem. Just deal with it. That's what happened there. It was real simple, you know, it just gave me enough time.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

You almost got me with the tears. Oh my I must have screwed up continually after that, but but the tears, there's still chances for the tears over here, isn't there? Yeah So it gave you just it it worked. Because I know I I've never heard of anybody going through the system like that and coming out saying it worked.

SPEAKER_03 25:32

I didn't know there were well that I knew there was one because when I was younger and I started to go into rehabs and things, I knew this crack smoking Jewish guy named Harry, right? And his name was Carpet Harry. He sold carpets, he was a carpet man. And he was going to take his kids to and his kids and family to Disneyland with like for like$20,000, but he crack smoked all the money, right? And he went to the Salvation Army and he he when he came back, he he said that it worked. He said that I should go if I, you know, I remember him talking about it, that it was a positive experience for him.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

And what was the the time between what is a carpet?

SPEAKER_03 26:08

Oh, me hearing about carpet Harry? Yeah. Oh, probably almost 15 years. Oh my god. So that was like way before that.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:16

When I was young.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

So then you had your own carpet harry.

SPEAKER_03 26:19

Yeah, a little seed in the head there from here.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

So then you okay, so now a little crack crumb in the carpet. See why I I love this man? Um Okay, so now you it it worked, it worked, and what was your next step after that?

SPEAKER_03 26:40

Uh just a slow climb out of the hole. And I mean, you had a did you call your wife and your mom and dad and like came back and eventually stayed with my my wife's sister and my wife in Westchester. Worked at a at a like um at a deli or something there for a while, a place called Carlino's. And it's not really a deli, they they sell specialty food. Oh, yeah, it's a deli. And uh, you know, we worked worked my way back up and got it got a job at in uh in the car business enough to to kind of support me and my wife made enough money to buy a house. Yeah, but all the while there was still something that wasn't quite right. Um, although I wasn't, you know, maybe as bad as I was, I started to get involved in in drugs again.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Like what kind of drugs?

SPEAKER_03 27:29

This time illegal drugs, right? A lot of illegal drugs and um mixed with with regular ones too. But uh you know, the difference was that um I knew that that I could get better. So I never stopped like living my life. I just kept trudging through even though I was messed up or messing up, went to work. Still but I was having these bouts of like anger and like rage and like being nasty to my wife and my kids, my kid at the time.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:03

And uh eventually I realized I was like, you know what? Something's not right. People don't do this type of stuff, like banging things around and getting mad and all. So I uh went to a doctor and they told me, they they said, We think you you have some like severe bipolar disorder and you need to take these medications. And at first I said to the guy, I was like, You're out of your mind. I told that to the psychiatrist, you're out of your mind. And he's like, Didn't you just tell me at one point you believed you were infected with insects or something? And I was like, Yeah, I guess I did say that. At what point did you say because I was coming, I was hot, you know, I was coming off of speed and things like that all the time. So I was whacked out. So uh yeah. So he gave me these medications, and uh I'll be damn, they worked.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Really? Yeah, so you have to be on them like I guess so.

SPEAKER_03 29:00

I mean, maybe, you know, to a degree. I take less now than I did at that time.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:05

Uh but man, did that work like putting a pair of glasses on? That, you know. Oh, wait. I can see all right now. And since then, my life's just gotten continually better until like now it's so good that like I can't believe I'm living it.

unknown 29:22

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Yeah. It's really great, right? That's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

I'm holding back. I'm holding it back.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

Who the hell was any of that crap, man?

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Oh no, I'm not saying everything else that all that led up to it, but like where you're at now.

SPEAKER_03 29:37

Yes, that's true. It it um, you know, if I would have taken one turn a different way, let's say I would have been successful at being a weatherman at TV three. Yeah. You know, then what would have happened in my life? It would have been a totally different course. And uh this one, I'm glad. I I could never be on TV.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Well, we we kind of know that. We are Oh wait, I'm not. I mean, yeah, you had a good run. I did. I was good at what I did. You were yeah, you that's the thing.

SPEAKER_03 30:13

You were really good too with the weather. Yeah, I was I was good. And we I think I was pretty good with this last storm that we we talked about a lot.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

So so not many people would get excited about weather maps, okay. And I think Lee has found his partner in crime on this because he you went to Mississippi State. I did. At what point in in all of this, at what point did you go to Mississippi State?

SPEAKER_03 30:39

I guess it was like 2004 to 2007-ish or something, like right when we were That was a range. That was when I was working at TV too, right. I graduated next to Karen Rogers. She was in my class. Oh my God. At ABC Six. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Get out. Yeah, yeah. And uh yeah, I did that. I I got educated in it and uh I like that.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Yeah. So he uh the last winter storm, like you you called it. And then and then you got nervous because the system wasn't forming and you thought maybe it was gonna just die out. And I said, stay with it. That was my only that was my only advice. Stay with it.

SPEAKER_03 31:18

Yeah, that was a good stuff, that was a good storm. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Yeah, we got like ooh, 11 inches or so in New York. You would know more.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Yeah, hopefully more more come because that was an exciting couple of uh couple of days.

SPEAKER_01 31:31

I mean, that was so great.

SPEAKER_03 31:32

Back and forth that maps. Yeah, it's very emotional. You get like it's almost like a buzz you get from these like storming, you know?

SPEAKER_01 31:40

So you shared with me another part of your journey, and it was an article that you wrote.

SPEAKER_03 31:48

And now I sound like a real, you know, like a real highly. It's it wasn't like I mean, the article was for your I have a cousin who also, God, go figure, has a severe mental illness. Okay. This this guy was almost almost hung himself when he was in college. Ah. So uh he um got involved in in mental health, you know, helping uh people with mental health problems. And he works at a publication called, oh God, what's the name? I don't know. I wrote, I wrote an article on Remane. It's called OC87 Recovery Diaries. That's the name of the publication. And uh my mom kept telling me, oh, you know, Lee, you should write an article for your cousin. He's so wonderful. Yeah, he's so wonderful. He would have killed himself. That's how wonderful the guy is.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

So anyway, you can't, I mean, listen, sometimes Lee, if you couldn't tell, has some dark humor, but a news person also has dark humor. Yeah, and you have to, otherwise, you would be spending your entire day crying. It's not funny. Um, but the way he's expressing it in anyway.

SPEAKER_03 32:55

So no, this guy is funny. He's a funny guy. Yeah, and you are too, but go ahead. So she tells me to go write this article or go talk to my cousin. I end up going out to like uh coffee with him and stuff, and he tells me that that I could write this. He goes, I'll give you 250 bucks. I go, sold. But I have to use my real name and my picture. Oh, okay. So that's the thing is the only way you can really break stigma in mental illness is to not hide it and talk about it. Who cares? That's your your personality, your story, your thing. Yeah. Why shouldn't anybody hide that they've had issues? Right. So I wrote the article and uh, you know, it had some some points in it. And um, I don't know if you want to bring up any of the points if you remember them or oh no.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

I mean, they were it was a really it was really a great article, and the thing that stuck out to me was the baseball analogy. Yeah, that's that's the thing I want you to talk about.

SPEAKER_03 33:51

So I play in a adult men's baseball league. It's competitive wooden bats, fast pitch, you know, anywhere from 60 to 80 miles an hour.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

And when did you get involved in this?

SPEAKER_03 34:03

Uh 2000 and I don't know, what's eight years ago? I can't do the math.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Oh god, I can't do the math either.

SPEAKER_03 34:10

What is 2017, 18, something like that, yeah. 16 before the pandemic.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

Before the pandemic, and in your journey with mental health, where were you at at that point? Getting much, much better. Getting much better. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:23

And the reason I ended up playing for this baseball league was I started to go to a therapist and try to work things out or whatever. And I had never understood what therapy was, and I always thought it was like hokey bullshit, and that stuff never works, and I can't understand how it would work. Yeah, a lot of people think that. It's not, it's really simple stuff, it's all about little tiny, simple suggestions. So the woman, I I tell the woman, she's like, What do you like to do? And I'm like, I love baseball. I freaking love baseball. It I absolutely do. And uh I said, you know, I've always wanted to play like in a men's league, you know. I one time I was looking it up. I see there's a couple around here, but I was like, I can't do that. I'm not that good. And she's like, play. She goes, You want to play? Play. If you want to do that, then play. And I was like, you know what? Screw it. I'm gonna try it. So I did. I signed up to go, and I went in the batter's box, and like this dude was throwing a baseball at me. I literally was shaking in the batter's box because I hadn't been in a baseball box. And uh ever not as an adult. When I was a little league, there's a big difference from when you're a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Yes, there is a big difference, but you know.

SPEAKER_03 35:32

And I uh I did it. I did it, and I ended up connecting with a couple of balls, and it was just enough, gave me just enough confidence to keep on doing it and being like, you know what, I'm pretty good at this. I can actually do this. If I work at it, I'm I could probably be pretty good at it. And the guys accepted me and they they knew I wasn't that good, but they saw that I wanted to play and they saw that I wanted to get better. And um, that suggestion that that woman made probably changed my life maybe more than anything. I know it sounds stupid.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

No, it doesn't sound stupid. But no, yeah, that so it takes something, something I get teary-eyed from that. Well, yeah, because I mean it it's something that you and I I'm not a psychologist, I'm not a therapist, but like well, today I guess I am playing the role of, but you know something as little as that, just getting in the batter's box, like I think that also shows you what you're capable of doing.

SPEAKER_03 36:32

Yeah. And you can't hide it. You can't hide when you do well.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

No.

SPEAKER_03 36:36

Which I think in my life, when I did well, um, I thought it was by accident or by luck. But this showed me that you I could make it happen for myself if I wanted to, but I had to do it my for myself.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

Yeah, not for other people, which changes the whole mission.

SPEAKER_03 36:56

And and I wrote that article and I came onto that thought, and I kind of tell other people that it's all about simple little tiny suggestions and changes in your life can make huge differences, but you have to do them yourself. They nobody will do them for you.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

So if there's somebody like listening who has a a loved one going through what you had gone through, you know.

SPEAKER_03 37:22

Or maybe they're going through.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

Or they're going through it and they're stuck. I mean, I'm sure you were stuck several times during this entire journey. Like how would you how do you get through it?

SPEAKER_03 37:34

You just don't give up. Keep on trying the next day for the next day. I mean, you know, as long as you're still alive, you have a shot. And don't let people tell you that you can't work or that you can't be here or you can't be there, or you need to be in this or that. Did you hear that? Yeah, just do what do what you think you need to do. You know, then it's okay if you mess up.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

Did you hear the critics though, when you were trying to get better?

SPEAKER_03 37:59

Oh yeah. I mean, there's people who tell you you need to be in this program and hang around these type of people, and it's not like that for everybody. Everybody's different, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

So what is life like today for you?

SPEAKER_03 38:15

Exciting. Very exciting. I just got back from Vegas with my wife. I went on a business trip. I've been to Thailand.

SPEAKER_00 38:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:25

Um, you know, going on a cruise in May. Oh, where? It's going from Florida to St. Martin. It's the brand new, it's a brand new ship. Brand new called the Star of the Seas. Oh, is it Celebrity Cruise? Oh. It's very exciting. I'm here with you, and you're a celebrity.

SPEAKER_01 38:43

I'm not a celebrity. I mean, no, but I'm not. People know you. They do, sure. I mean, but this is also like what we had done early on in our career at Beyond TV. Like that's how, you know.

SPEAKER_03 38:55

You're gonna be a celebrity now because of this. Next thing you know, Joe Rogan's gonna be calling. He's gonna be like, Lee, come on this show and smoke a blunt. Okay, and bring up the next cons. I'm actually the Ayatollah. That's the conspiracy theory. I'm gonna pull off the mask and and that's what I'm gonna reveal.

SPEAKER_00 39:15

Oh my god. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:20

Yep. This is Lee. This my friend is Lee.

SPEAKER_03 39:24

Yes, this was fun.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

Well, so I do want to dip in because we have a we have a bit more time. Um Do you think our friend's gonna be listening to this?

SPEAKER_03 39:36

Does he know? He doesn't know that I'm gonna be listening.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Well, he wants to be on the uh the podcast. He said that once he gets better, he wants to sit in the seat that you're sitting in. That was why does he need to get better?

SPEAKER_03 39:46

I know. Is he maybe he'll never get better, but he can still come on here.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

But that's tough. I don't even know how I would I don't What if he's better than he was? Yeah, no. I mean, it's part of the journey, right? I mean, that's my whole my whole shtick with this unscripted turbulence.

SPEAKER_03 40:06

You know, this guy is funny. Okay. Yeah. He's trained. Like he went to like uh like what do you call it? Um school for comedy? What's that?

SPEAKER_01 40:16

Oh, the upright citizens brigade. He was here and he was he lived in our our mutual front.

SPEAKER_03 40:22

What's that comedy form called? Why can't I think of it right now?

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Oh, I thought it was upright.

SPEAKER_03 40:25

Yeah, but it's called like free free form comedy or oh um improv. Improv, yeah. He was in improv comedy.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

Yeah, no, he is funny. Like he was, he um he I s still works in out of New Well, not in New York, but he's remote. Yes. Um, and then lived in Brooklyn. Um, but yeah, no, he no, he he I I mean he is, I would say he's very close to being a comedian.

SPEAKER_03 40:51

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Uh nothing funny about his well, actually his drinking problem can be uh somewhat funny at times, but I mean again, you to make light of it's such a dark thing.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

It's such a dark thing. But to make light of it, I mean, it's we're human, right?

SPEAKER_03 41:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:06

And you've had many conversations with him.

SPEAKER_03 41:08

I just you know, I But this person may not be human because of some of the things that his body's been through and he's still alive. Okay. I I've only heard I've never seen and I the point four zero blood alcohol content thing. That are you serious? Yeah, and and he and he was still awake and talking, and and the doctors were like, hmm, how is that possible?

SPEAKER_00 41:30

Yeah, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

Yeah, it's professional. That's a professional problem.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

Yeah, so yeah, we have so this this episode is, you know. I I mean, I would love for him to hear it, and I would love I would love for him to understand how much we love him and we want him to get better. But even, you know, even that, and you know, when we were doing the the text thread, you know, I I wanted to know too. I mean, all of this love that we're giving him and the support and everything, like when you were at your lowest point, were you hearing any of that when people were saying we want you to get better?

SPEAKER_03 42:04

No, but one time you told me that you were praying for me. I was and it worked. It worked. People prayed, people did this and people did that, but obviously it worked. So I don't know. It never hurts to think good things for people, right? Yeah, never hurts. And you never know when a prayer can be heard, right? Do you remember it saying that to me? Yeah, I do. I believe you, yeah. You did. It worked. Maybe it'll work for him. We pray.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

I hope so. I don't know if he hears.

SPEAKER_01 42:39

I mean, you can pray, but I I don't know if he hears what we're trying to say to him.

SPEAKER_03 42:44

If he has a UT YouTube on right now, he does.

SPEAKER_01 42:47

Again, I wonder if he's gonna watch this.

SPEAKER_03 42:49

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Because part of this is dedicated to him.

SPEAKER_03 42:52

People know, right, that I'm on here with with you now. Maybe they've told them. You never said don't say anything. I did not tell my mom to listen to this. Really? Yeah. She probably is though, like somehow secretive. Because I don't know, I don't want her to be like, oh, Lee, that was so wonderful. Let me go tell you know, everybody how how amazing you are.

SPEAKER_01 43:16

But you are though. I mean, look what you went through. Well, you know. And you're sitting here and you're and you're thriving in your life right now. I mean, you're you're provide this story is providing hope for people.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

I hope so.

SPEAKER_01 43:27

Who are, you know, either know somebody or maybe are going through it themselves. Like this guy is an example.

SPEAKER_03 43:35

And it can get bad. And it can get bad quick for normal people that you think are normal. Like I have a friend who's, you know, high highly educated. You probably may know him or may know of him. Okay. Um, he would be the last person in the world that I would say would have a mental illness breakdown. But one day, this person, his Snapped, went to the airport, tried to get on a helicopter to go see the president, got phased by a service agent, thrown in jail. He had a s like a a psychotic break. And uh he's an he's a surgical nurse. This guy. So it can happen in the blink of an eye. He went from being one thing in my mind to being he lost well lost a job temporarily because you have to go through programs when you get in trouble as a nurse. Oh my god. Yeah. Because uh, you know, obviously he had a mental break. You're not it's not a crime. But uh this person went missing. He went missing on the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_00 44:48

This past Super Bowl no, this is years ago.

SPEAKER_03 44:51

Somebody calls me, hey Lee, have you seen such and such? No, why? Well, he's missing. What do you mean he's missing? We don't know where he is. And we can't find his car. And I was like, okay, well, maybe he's with his car, I'm sure. Well, anyway, days go by. And the reason we couldn't find him was when he when he got arrested, he told the police his name was John Doe. So they they they we couldn't identify that who who it was, but uh he's okay now. He's okay. He went to hospital. He was in the hospital for like a a couple of months, maybe, where they were tinkering around with medications and things like that. Yeah. And when he got out, he was like a vegetable.

SPEAKER_00 45:30

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 45:31

He was not himself. Right. But after a while, they tweaked things around and he he's okay now.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

He's back at work and back doing his nursing.

SPEAKER_03 45:38

He's a he's like a thoracic, like a thoracic surgical nurse. The guy works with like instruments in like heart surgery and stuff. And then you know, a life and death situation. So it can happen to anybody at any time.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

Oh I mean Yeah. You really don't know what people are going through, right?

SPEAKER_03 46:01

Yeah. Especially if you're uh on an operating table.

SPEAKER_01 46:06

Shaw. Okay, well, yeah. Ooh, well, do you feel better now that you feel how do you feel talking about it?

SPEAKER_03 46:15

I feel uh amazed and uh grateful and warm. Feel very warm, surrounded by warmth. It's a warm activity to come here and do this, you know, like uh, you know, cute it's like a culmination of a lot of different things that are good and bad. Yeah. And come together to be ultimately something good.

SPEAKER_00 46:36

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 46:36

I'm glad. Because I didn't know. I mean, I'm asking a lot of you to tell me about your story, and I, you know, it's this is a it was this was a hard episode for me.

SPEAKER_03 46:45

Yeah, it's a little, it's a little out of uh out of the the norm box of maybe of of what people are used to hearing.

SPEAKER_01 46:50

But if to me, no, but it's needed to be spoken about, right? That's the whole thing.

SPEAKER_03 46:55

My life, yeah, sure. Yeah. And uh nothing to hide, right?

SPEAKER_00 47:00

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

Yeah, and now you're gonna go on a cruise.

SPEAKER_03 47:03

I'm gonna go on a cruise and I'm gonna I'm gonna live it up. That's awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:07

All right. I think we're good. Anything else you want to add? Any any final Okay. I don't think so. Okay. Any final thought?

SPEAKER_03 47:18

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 47:19

Just I don't know where we were going with this.

SPEAKER_03 47:21

Thank you. That's it. Oh, thank you. All right, all right.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

Thank you for stopping by. Yeah, anytime. Thank you, my friend. Take what land, leave what lesson, and keep moving forward. Hello for everyone listening, and if you are watching on YouTube, hit that subscribe button. It helps more than you know.