My Story

Life began January 29, 1976 in Scarborough, Ontario.  Ten weeks later I was adopted by Pat & Ray Sabourin who already had two daughters – Micheline and Tricia.  The first eleven months or so of my life were lived in Pickering, Ontario and then my parents decided to move to Stratford, Ontario as they were not too excited raising us in the concrete jungle.  I would spend the next 23 years living in Stratford, a beautiful, tourist destination because of the Stratford Festival.  My early years were filled with numerous fond memories of playing sports, building forts in the forest in our backyard, and playing with all the neighborhood kids.  I would describe myself as a fairly outgoing young boy who had many friends and was athletically minded.  I remember at an early age my parents telling me I was adopted but being so young I don’t believe I truly comprehended the reality of adoption  I continued living life understanding that mom and dad were just mom and dad.  What was adoption anyways?  Family life was quite normal although it had its fair share of dysfunction.  My parents were very loving and supportive and my relationship with my older sisters was filled with its typical sibling rivalry.  Living in a small community was filled with adventure as a young boy but as I got older I became increasingly bored with my surroundings.  There had to be more to life.  There was a world out there just waiting to be explored.  At the age of 14 I tried smoking my first cigarette and took my first drink of alcohol (it was a barbarian cooler).  Looking back, this is where it all began for me.  There was something so appealing and mysterious about smoking and drinking and hey, everyone else was doing it so I guess I should too – right?  I believed that smoking and drinking was going to be the cure to my boredom, boy was I ever wrong.  I found high school to be quite difficult as I was a very insecure young man due to my severe acne issues.  I can remember looking into the mirror at home and literally despising what I saw in the reflection.  I believe a lot of my insecurities fueled my thirst for my eventual drug addiction.  I was first introduced to marijuana by a childhood friend (who will remain nameless) behind one of the public schools in our community.  A few days later we tried acid for the first time (I won’t get into it now but let me tell you – this experience is what broke open the floodgates to a nearly 9 year drug addiction.)  I could go on and on for days – literally, telling stories about my adventures in addiction and maybe one day I will in the form of a book but for now I will just keep it simple.  Life progressively got worse as I became more and more rebellious and began to hang out with a new group of friends and an ever increasing appetite for drugs.  I was 18 when I first tried cocaine which would later become my drug of choice.  I was open to anything and everything.  Around the same time my parents didn’t know what to do with me.  I would abide by their rules and became increasingly difficult to live with so they had no other option then to ask me to leave.  I was destroying our family!  After leaving home I found myself jumping from couch to couch wearing out welcomes along the way.  Throughout the next few years I would secure a place to live only to find myself evicted shortly thereafter because I was unable to pay my rent as my love affair with drugs only deepened.  Broken relationship after broken relationship with family and friends, neck high in debt and nowhere to turn, I turned to what I knew – drugs.  Seems logical doesn’t it?  After a series of events with the chart topper being an incident where I found myself covered in my own vomit, I knew I needed to change but didn’t know how.  My sister Micheline was instrumental in my transformation as it was her who told me about a one year program called Teen Challenge.  She told me that her Pastor was a graduate himself and this would be a place in which I could go to get my life back on track.  What life?  I was 24 years old and had nothing except a desire to change.  And that’s just what I have done – change!  I wish I was able to convey more to you and maybe one day I will but I am overwhelmed when I think about where I have come from and where I am today.  I am not the same person nor will I ever be.  I give all the credit to the One who created me – God.  Now you may laugh at me or scoff or even question the validity of what I am saying and I am ok with that but it is true.  God has invaded my life because I have given Him permission to and it has been His hand on my life that has helped me become who I am today.