Alcoholic dad finds way back to family
by Doris Fleck

At one time, Brian Campbell’s wife would brag about him to her friends, telling them what a great father he was.

"If the kids were out playing on the street, I was out there with them," said the father of two. "I was very involved in my children’s lives."

But that was before alcohol addiction took over his life.

Growing up in Innisfail, Campbell had watched his alcoholic father wreck the relationship he had with his family.

"I vowed and I said this to my wife, I would never be like that," Campbell admitted.

Though Campbell thought he could control his alcohol addiction, soon it controlled him. He ended up homeless, without his family, physically and emotionally spent. That’s when the Calgary Dream Centre (CDC) came to the rescue. A recovery and treatment facility, the CDC helps men conquer their addictions and enables them to successfully transition off the streets to become productive members of society. For Campbell, it rehabilitated his life and restored relationship with his family. Campbell had tried a few treatment programs before the CDC, but they were short-term and did nothing to help him deal with the on-going stresses at work. At the time, his answer was to just drink more. Campbell soon recognized he was becoming like his own father, so he left his family to spare them the pain of seeing him the way he had seen his dad. "My family was very upset with me," Campbell related. "It was really, really hard because I missed my kids and my wife."

Father of two, Brian Campbell, plays guitar at the Calgary Dream Centre where he was valedictorian of their most recent graduating class.  — photo by Peter Fleck

Then his wife asked for a legal separation. Campbell was stunned.

"I was in a fog and didn’t think it would go any further than that," he said. "But finally it went to divorce."

Campbell had hit rock bottom. Without work and homeless, he still wanted to maintain a relationship with his two children, so he lived in his car near their house.

In February, 2009 it was bitterly cold, and Campbell mistakenly slept with his steel-toed boots on. When he woke up he couldn’t feel his feet. He went to a walk-in clinic believing he had frostbite but they told him to go home, take some Tylenol and put his feet up.

He decided to go to the Southland Leisure Centre to soak his cold, painful feet but passed out when he was walking up the steps from the hot pool. An ambulance took him to the Rockyview General Hospital where his toes began changing color and then broke into open wounds.

After three and a half months in the hospital, the doctors were able to save all but his two big toes.

"I consider myself fortunate that I can still walk," Campbell said.

As soon as he was released from the hospital, Campbell entered the Dream Centre and started working through their three-month recovery program.

Named valedictorian of his graduating class, Campbell said the love and support he received from the counselors and staff at the CDC helped him maintain sobriety. Though he had always believed in God, Campbell was introduced to Jesus Christ at the CDC and said that becoming a Christian has been a transforming experience. Now he and his wife are good friends again and she supports the CDC’s work in his life.

"I still love that lady," Campbell said, "and we’re making it the best we can for the kids."