The Road to
AA saves former addict’s life By William J. Dagendesh
D
avid Herrera was in elementary school when he crawled inside a booze bottle to escape an abusive father only to spend decades learning to crawl back out. “I found failure everywhere and ran away…until I found myself in the depths of hell, unable to escape and wanting to give up on life,” said Herrera, 69. For him, the road to recovery was long and rocky. But in time, the Fountain resident turned his life around, going on to earn two college degrees and working on a writing project he hopes will be an even greater achievement. Herrera compares his journey to scaling the Manitou Incline: each step, although tough, is an accomplishment. “I turned my life around and am proof that anything is possible if you want it bad enough,” he said.
SAVING HIS LIFE Herrera considers himself blessed to be alive. His diplomas sit atop a bookcase alongside a knickknack dromedary camel, a reminder that
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he, like his hump-back friend, can exist without drinking. It’s hard to fathom for a man who started drinking at age 8. By the time he was 16, alcohol dominated Herrera’s life. After graduating high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, but separated from active service three years later.
1980, he checked into the Veterans Administration Hospital in Sheridan, Wyoming. However, following his discharge, he began a two-year drinking binge, which resulted in nine DUI convictions in four states. That’s when he decided to clean up his act for good. Because family members didn’t offer help, Herrera attended Alco-
“I DON’T BLAME OTHERS FOR THE SUBSTANCES I INGESTED. I ALONE HAD TO STOP DESTROYING MY BODY AND MIND.” “I was discharged as a dysfunctional, immature young man with a mental illness, beginning a life of incomprehensible demoralization,” said Herrera. He started school at University of Colorado Boulder, but never finished. By age 33, he grew tired of living on the street. He “put the plug in the jug” and walked away from alcohol. Seeking to understand why he abused himself, in
holics Anonymous (AA) meetings. “AA taught me how to live life without drinking, and life is beautiful, clean and sober. The only cost a person needs is to admit they need help,” Herrera said.
GREATER ACHIEVEMENTS In 2001, Herrera earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronics’ engineering technology from Arizona State University,
and in 2007, he retired from the Department of Energy. In 2020, he graduated with a bachelor’s in history from University of Colorado Colorado Springs. “My long-term goal—if I get to live long enough—is I want to work on a Ph.D. in history,” he said. He hopes to reconnect with students who were involved in an incident that resulted from the 1965 Delano Grape Strike and Boycott in California, when Filipino American grape workers demanded better wages and working conditions. The strike prompted an international grapes boycott and led to a Gallo Wines protest at Pudlik’s Liquor Store in Boulder on March 15, 1975. He and 13 other University of Colorado students involved in the protest were arrested on a felony criminal trespass charge. With a poor defense behind him, Herrera jumped bail and ran to Arizona. Now, he wishes to write about the students and how their lives have progressed since the arrest. He believes sharing the incident with readers will be one of his