Page 57 - Relapse News Today

>> reporter: stories about recovery are almost always messy. people move forward a little and then they slip back even more. but for joe, each time it did become easier. >> these were all my emergency room overdoses and everything like that. i need to see a reminder, you know, of who i was. >> reporter: the same obsessions that fueled his addiction also fueled his dazzling performances like this one as the crystal man in cirque de soleil. tethered at the waste, spinning, shoulders pinned back, t...

Could not be allowed, because the risk of relapse was so great. >> i nknow the goal. the goal is to avoid anything that you had a problem with in the past. >> of course. >> you decided to let us follow you along through the shoulder operati operation, and why did you allow that? >> well, at first, i didnt want to, because it felt like a private thing and then i remembered what i had gone through. and i was like, this could el actually help people. >> reporter: joe came through the operations wit...

About the addiction, joe was in trouble again, but this time, the brutal years that he had endured through recovery paid off. this time, there were no more pills, no more heroin, no more relapse. >> so, this is the old apartment that i used to live in. >> literally across the hall. >> yes, and on 9/11 i was in my apartment with three sur ring, and it is interesting, because you make that one decision that changes your life. when i walked down the hall i take a right and not a left. >> that is th...

Opiate delivery system, heroin, one of the most dangerously addictive substances on the planet, and nearly impossible to es cape. as hard as he tried, joe was amongst 78% of the heroin addicts who relapse over and over again, and a relapse that he would encounter when he worked at the new york times. >> many times you were not clean? >> yes, and i was 27 years old, and the new york times had sent me to rehab, and i was so grateful, and still there, and it was there that a therapist suggested tha...

Say a spark ignited. >> reporter: no surprise, it felt pretty good. after rehab, joe caught a break, and started performing on broadway. but the thing about heroin, is that the possibility of a relapse was always waiting for him there in the wings. >> i managed to stay clean for a year and a half. amazing my life changed and i was performing on broadway, and i could not believe it. a heroin addict and performing on broadway. >> but it is another visit to the dentist, and another prescron, and th...

Like someone sawed my ankle in half because thats kind of what happened and the nurse said are you in pain? i said yes. i wasnt even awake and all of a sudden i felt something, that thing, that ancient feeling like oh my god and i said what did you just give me? she said fentenel. this felt good. i was eight years clean and like this isnt fair. i was drugged. >> reporter: whether or not the nurse simply forgot or there is still a fundamental misunderstanding about the severity of addiction, joe ...

New york times" sent me to rehab. i was so grateful. still am. and it was there that a therapist suggested i go back to something i was passionate about, which was gymnastics. in my eyes, i was a failure. my only golfs to go to the olympics and i didnt. to go back to that sport was to walk into humiliation. i went back to it in and a fire inside of me, spark ignited. >> reporter: no surprise, it felt pretty good and after rehab, joe caught a break and started performing on broadway. but the thin...

To hope. >> reporter: when he was just eight years old, joe became obsessed with gymnastics. he was so good that his dreams of going to the olympics seemed within reach. he couldnt have imagine that a dental procedure when he was 19 would derail those dreams and start a whole new obsession with prescription pain pills. >> it just worked. you know, it clicked. it was like the stars were aligned and ive never felt anything like it. >> reporter: this time, it was percocet but the high joe felt from...

Easier. >> these were all my emergency room overdoses and everything like that. i need to see a reminder, you know, of who i was. >> reporter: the same obsessions that fueled his addiction also fueled his dazzling performances like this one as the crystal man. tethered at the waist spinning, shoulders pinned back, twisting, turning, stunning to watch but also putting so much pressure on his upper body. for two years, his injuries mounted. joe would eventually need surgery, painful surgery. he kn...

Addictions so hes really turned his life around. i mean, the relapse, the potential of a relapse is always waiting there for him potentially in the wings but hes free of it now and he wants to help. >> yeah, hes doing a great job. sanjay, thank you very much. >> thank you. just ahead, an update on the breaking news. the death toll rising from the rough weather hitting parties of the country. four people have lost their lives including three in mississippi. we have details next.