To better understand the purpose of the Dick Beardsley Foundation you need to know a little bit about Dick Beardsley.
A long time marathon runner, Dick Beardsley has won several prestigious races, and is currently the 5th fastest male in U.S. men's marathon history. Dick is best known for his 1982 Boston Marathon "Duel in the Sun" with Alberto Salazar. Toward the end of his running career Dick was in several terrible accidents which left him in intense pain. As his tolerance for pain medication grew, his life began to spin around pain medication.
In 1997 Dick got treatment for his chemical addiction and has been drug free ever since. This ended up being a very important turning point in Dick's life. Dick wants to share his life with others who suffer from dependencies thus the Dick Beardsley Foundation was created. Today he enjoys his life and his running more than ever.
February 12 is a very special day for me. Most people celebrate their birthday on the day they were born, for me, I celebrate my "rebirth" day today. Today I celebrate life and my 11 years of sobriety. I tell you this not for you to applaud me, that's not who I am, I tell you this to give those dealing with an addiction, that, yes you can get your life back!
Going through an addiction to drugs or alcohol is a terrible ordeal that affects not only that person, but all those around them. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think it would happen to me! I've said it many times before, "If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone!” I saw what alcohol did to my parents and remember saying "that's not going to be me when I grow up" yet I fell victim to drugs.
As a competitive distance runner for many years, the thought never ever crossed my mind about using anything. After retiring from that stage of running in 1988, I moved back to my dairy farm in Minnesota and was in a very bad farm accident. I was very fortunate to survive. I was hospitalized for a long time and had numerous surgery's, but I survived, a couple of years later a car crash, then hit by a truck while running, another car accident, fell off a cliff, I know it almost sounds comical!
The Dick Beardsley Foundation is a community based non-profit dedicated to educating about chemical dependency as well as providing grants to those who need help in seeking treatment. The Foundation relies on tax deductible donations to function.
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My life was completely taken away during my battle with narcotic pain medication addiction. Whether it be addiction to narcotics, street drugs or alcohol, we are all under the same umbrella, the only difference being our drug of choice.
If it had not been for the treatment program I was in, I can guarantee I would not be alive today!
In my traveling around the country and speaking at treatment centers, the one thing I see that is always the same is patients not in a program long enough to recover. The biggest reason is lack of funds on the patient's part or an insurance policy that dictates how long they can be at a facility.
I was very fortunate my insurance company basically said "keep this guy as long as it takes to get him better." Unfortunately, that's not the way it is for most people.
To better understand the purpose of the Dick Beardsley Foundation you need to know a little bit about