PAYING IT FORWARD

2020 graduate stays at Lifeline to help others facing a similar journey

At 34, just before the pandemic hit in 2020, Caleb Wagers found himself in a place he didn’t particularly want to be – referred to Lifeline by the Marshall County drug court. Even though he’d been through a couple of 30-day rehab programs before and he didn’t relish going to a faithbased program, something was different this time. “My instinct was to run, but I didn’t,” he said. Instead, Caleb finished the nine-month rehab and has stayed on at Lifeline as a house monitor, while he finishes the drug court’s two-year program of AA meetings and court appearances.

He hopes to be for them what his mentors were to him.

“They had been through it, so they gave me hope,” he said. “When you’re in addiction, that means a lot. I didn’t know how to live sober, and they showed me.”

Now, the Marshall County native has a chance to do the same for others. “I want to give away freely what has been given to me,” he said, “and I find it helps me, too.”

Caleb has had a long road, since becoming a heroin addict at 20 following pain pills for an injury. He had grown up with loving, supportive parents, who had grown weary of his many stumbles. “But after about four or five months at Lifeline, they could see the light come on in me.”

Besides learning from his mentors, Caleb discovered a strong faith in God, which he had dismissed despite years of Christian schooling as a child. “I didn’t think I was a religious person because all I could see was the judgment in people,” he said. “At Lifeline, they didn’t judge me. They genuinely care about you, and that was new to me.”

Caleb remembers being surprised at the motives of the Lifeline volunteers, some of whom had suffered through addiction and some had not.

“I always thought, ‘Why would they do this? What do they want in return?’ “ he said. “But I kept an open mind, and now I see the love in people. My faith is a big part of my life, and I want to make myself available to help others now.”

He is looking to the future with new hope. “I’m trying to build a relationship with my son and plan to move out of Lifeline soon. I know I will always have to work at sobriety every day, but volunteering at Lifeline keeps my focus in check. I’m sober and I’m happy.”

By day, he works as a carpenter; but by night, he lives in Lifeline’s transitional unit, helping guys like himself during their recovery.

‘IS THIS IT?’

Lifeline coordinator recounts turning point in addiction recovery

decision was nothing short of a mother’s love.”

While she was in jail, Jaquelyn cried out to God in a moment of complete surrender. “I said ‘God, if you can save me, then save me; and if you can’t, then kill me because I don’t want to live this way anymore.’

Jaquelyn Cannon, 2017 Lifeline graduate from Murray and now program coordinator at the women’s campus, remembers a moment in that place many addicts call “rock bottom.”

Homeless and addicted, she was living in her car and going into gas station bathrooms to wash her hair. “I remember at one point looking up in the (gas station) mirror and just thinking to myself, ‘Is this it? Is this what my life is going to be?’”

That person, she says, is completely different from the smiling face you see now – a wife, a mom, a master’s degree graduate, a full-time Lifeline coordinator working toward certification as a certified alcohol and drug abuse counselor and, even, a public speaker in front of Kentucky’s governor (story about Gov. Andy Beshear’s visit to Lifeline on page 6).

As she told the governor, Jaquelyn was “in a very dark and seemingly hopeless season of life” as a 10-year addict and a homeless college drop-out who had lost custody of her daughter, when her mother intervened. “I was at my mom’s house, and she put her hands on my shoulders and said, ‘Jaq, I love you, but I’m not going to love you to death,’ and she told me I needed to leave. When I walked out of her house, the police were there waiting for me, and I knew that she had called them. Looking back now, I see how that

From that moment on, Jaquelyn said God started working in her life, leading her to Lifeline. “I know for certain that God worked through Lifeline to save my life. They gave me the tools to stay sober and the courage to stand on His promises.”

After she graduated, she stayed connected to Lifeline by volunteering. “What Lifeline is doing is seriously life-changing, and I have always wanted to be a part of it,” she said. “Even after I graduated the program, they continued giving me opportunities and impacting my life in the best way possible.”

Today, she celebrates five years of sobriety by thanking God for what she considers the many miracles He has performed in her life.

“God has restored everything that I lost. I got custody of my daughter back, and I’ve had two more children that have never had to see their mom high. My family prays together, and I’m utilizing what I learned at Lifeline to be the person, mom, and employee that I’ve always wanted to be.

“My happiness is not measured in a spoon, prescription, or bottle because it is true happiness that I have in Him. I have a purpose today –and that is to help other women find the same freedom that I have found. I believe that my life is a testament to God’s grace and the work that He is doing at Lifeline.”