From addict to Ironman

"Every single day, the first thought in my mind was 'How much of this drug and alcohol abuse is it gonna take to kill me?'" Crandell recalled. "And then it was, 'I got to keep going again today to find more drugs to block myself out, mentally and emotionally.'"
The trouble started when his mom committed suicide when he was just 3 1/2 years old. She ended her life after a similar struggle with drugs and alcohol, he said.
His mother's death led Crandell down a road to self-destruction.
"When I was growing up, I felt abandoned. I felt angry, depressed," he told CNN. "I constantly felt like I was an outsider even within my own family."
Crandell took his first sip of alcohol at age 13 Read more
Source www.cnn.com