Hope, Recovery, and Wellness Together
At St. Luke’s Penn Foundation, you’ll receive compassionate, personalized care designed to inspire change and strengthen your emotional, physical, and spiritual resilience.
Meet Marcus
My name is Marcus, and I come from an upper middle class family with two loving parents and two successful brothers. In high school, I was an all-state athlete, and I received a scholarship to wrestle in college. My parents raised me with strong morals and an unbelievable work ethic. Yet, I still fell into the trap of addiction. I’m currently in recovery from a heroin addiction. I’ve spent years in and out of state prisons, county jails, and rehabilitation centers. I’ve been robbed, stabbed, and shot at. I’ve been homeless and on welfare. I’ve overdosed, and I’ve lost more friends to the disease of addiction than I have left. I’ve lost the chance to fulfill my dream of earning a degree in secondary education and becoming a gym teacher.
I remember the morning that I contacted Penn Foundation like it was yesterday. I was out of money, had burnt every bridge I had, and desperately needed somewhere to go until I could figure out my next move. I didn’t plan on actually participating or even being awake too often. When I googled Penn Foundation, I remember seeing pictures of the facility and thinking how nice the chairs looked. I reached out and came to Penn Foundation…never imagining that once I walked through their doors, I would never use again. But that’s exactly what happened.
I was introduced to a completely new way of life. My counselor worked with me to reclaim my life and become a caring, responsible member of society again, one that my family could be proud of. I learned the importance of finding the right pathway for my sobriety and how gaining “recovery capital” should be a constant in my life. The effort of the Penn Foundation staff towards MY recovery was so eye-opening and refreshing. This place with the comfortable chairs in Sellersville ACTUALLY cared. Today, I’m proud to report that I took the dream that I’ve always had to teach kids and transformed it into something that has changed me in ways that I can never express. Penn Foundation gave me my life back and, in the process, showed me that I could still live my dreams. And now my dream might actually help other people too.
