Losing to Win: David’s Journey to Healing
Nestled in a quiet corner of Rockingham County, North Carolina, the town of Ruffin could be easily described as a long way from anywhere, which suits U.S. Army Veteran David Riggins just fine.
“It’s called Ruffin for a reason,” David laughs “Because you are kind of ‘roughing it’ out here. Suits me just fine though.”
In many ways, living in Ruffin is a metaphor for David’s journey. He’s a long way from the person he was a little over a year ago.
“Me more than a year ago,” David muses. “I would have to be high to get through a conversion like this.”
From Service to Addiction
Spending most of his life in Danville, Virginia, David remembers his childhood as being happy and stable. A turning point for him came on September 11, 2001. Shocked and angry, he knew he had to do something.
“My dad was in the Army in the late 80s,” David said. “I knew I had to do my part, so I skipped school for a day and went to enlist. A few days after I graduated, I was off to Ft. Benning for basic training.”
From Ft. Benning, David then went to Ft. Gordon, Georgia where he trained as a Microwave Systems Operator. Things were going well, until an event during Airborne training at Ft. Benning changed his life forever.
“My safety harness failed, and I fell 15 feet, tore ligaments in both knees,” David said. “I spent the next 14 months on medical hold until they medically discharged me. It was during that time I was introduced to what became my best friend for several years, opioids.”
For the next several years, David got by. He started a family and made regular visits to the pain clinic to get his prescription of oxycodone. He was prescribed extremely large doses.
“Things were going ok, but one day the government said that opioids were being overprescribed, David said. “After that, they cut my pill count significantly. By this time, I admit that I was already abusing them, but it was still a huge shock when I found I was left short.”
To make up for the shortage, David first turned to getting his pills through street dealers. However, it quickly became apparent that reliance on illegal dealers wouldn’t meet his needs.
“Oxycodone isn’t cheap on the streets. Think full retail value,” David said. “Someone told me that heroin did the same thing, and it was cheaper and so I got hooked on that.”
Rock Bottom
By 2022, David had been an addict for the better part of a decade. By now, his heroin addict had progressed to fentanyl.
“I was sleeping in abandoned houses and shooting up under streetlights,” David said. “I hadn’t spoken to my family in years, I was really in deep.”
After a night in jail in December 2022, David was in a tight spot and had nowhere to go. He connected with a friend for a place to stay and bought $20 worth of fentanyl. After shooting up, he passed out, waking up several hours later in severe pain.
“I woke up, it was dark, and I couldn’t move my leg,” David said. “At first, I thought someone broke in and stabbed me. I yelled out for help and my friend came running in, took one look at me and said, ‘I’m calling 911.”
David’ received third-degree burns over 80% of his left leg.
“I passed out next to a kerosene heater, and I guess it fell on my leg,” David said. “The weird thing was, is that at one point I made my way to the bed after I was so horribly burned.”
The Road to Recovery
Despite doctors at UNC-Chapel Hill working diligently, David’ left leg had to be amputated below the knee.
“Because of my service injury, I had to have a special prosthetic fitted,” David said.
Unfortunately, David developed a bone infection, that brought back to the hospital, this time, to the Durham VA Health Care System. For a time, his condition from serious to critical.
“At one point, a doctor came in and asked me if I had seen my family,” David said. “He said that I might want to talk to them again, and that I might not make it.”
David eventually pulled through, though at the cost of a further amputation of what was left of his leg. By this time, he had been off heroin and was determined never to go back down the road of addiction.
“When they brought me in for surgery, I told them that I wanted absolutely no pain medication,” David said. “All I got was sedation. After surgery, my dad came and picked me up from the Durham VA and took me home.”
Giving Back
As his leg healed and he began to become comfortable with his new prosthetic, David began to reflect on his lost years and how he could help others avoid his pitfalls and to show others that was a light at the end of addiction.
“I started getting active on social media again,” David said. “I noticed that my videos on Facebook and TikTok really started getting noticed.”
David eventually started Helping Others, Empathizing with Others, and Loving Others (HEAL) and never looked back. Now, he regularly appears on popular YouTube channels and travels the country to tell his story to others who struggle with addiction. Now he’s fixing up an old Ford Van with the hope of taking his passion for helping others on the road, a kind of inspirational vagabond in a sense.
“With all I’ve put myself through, I should have died years ago,” David said. “The fact that I didn’t means that I’m here for a reason, and I honestly think my message is that reason. I lost my leg, but I got my life back, that must mean something.”