After family writes his obituary, man battling addiction turns his life around

MORRISVIILLE, Pa. (WTXF) - A local man's battle with addiction had reached a breaking point when his family was left with little hope, and they wrote his obituary and anticipation of his death.

He decided he wasn't going to let drugs take his life and got clean. Now he's working to save the lives of other people who are approaching their breaking point.

Brian Kish's story may not sound like your typical battle with drug addiction. He says that is precisely the reason he's sharing his battle. He came from a solid background, growing up in Bucks County, attending Pennsbury High School. He says despite growing up with a great life and great opportunity, he still went from drinking alcohol, to smoke marijuana, to using heroin by age 18.

"That's such a stereotype, someone could be using pills or something at a party and think it's not a problem for me because I never had anything bad happen in my life. I never had anything bad happen in my life and I ended up homeless in Kensington," Kish explained.

His journey was not just limited to the streets of Kensington.

"I've been to Jersey, Texas, Maryland, California, Florida, all these treatment centers all over the place and I just ended up homeless in a different state," said Kish.

It got so bad that a harsh but necessary comment from his family inspired him to clean up his act and enlist in the military.

"They were like just so you know your funeral is paid for, the plots picked out, your obituary is written, we're just waiting for you to die, get you cremated down there and ship you back up to Philly," he recalled.

Those comments had a major impact that led to airborne training and a new lease on life until graduation night.

"What everyone tells me happened is that I walked into the club for fifteen minutes and they didn't see me the rest of the night. I come to and its 8 a.m. the next morning and I'm walking down a main strip in Columbus Georgia with three bags of crack and some heroin in my pocket," Kish said.

Everything Kish went through was a lot to happen all before he was 25, but it is the story that got him to where he is today. Kish is close to two years clean and working in a recovery house, the type of place that eventually helped him. He's trying desperately to use his experience to help others.

"I love waking up every day, I love life. I get to help people every day, like new people, new guys fresh off the street," Kish explained.

That's the reason to share the story both for Brian and the two owners of the recovery house that welcomed him in, both themselves in recovery.

"We needed a place to find some peace and serenity in our lives. This is what we signed up for we signed up to help others get sober like somebody helped us get sober," owners Paul and Brandt explained.

Now they hope that sharing their stories will let people know that even if it was as bad as things got for Brian, there are people and places to help, For Goodness Sake.