With easy access to illegal drugs because many of his friends readily give him some and he receives enough allowance to buy for himself, Ryan Cabrera Villareal became addicted at a young age. But after nearly losing his life due to his drug addiction, he finally decided to leave his sad life behind and focus on working for his future.
Villareal confessed that he was just 13 years old when he first used marijuana. The youngest of four siblings, with the older ones having a huge age gap from him, he had always felt left out in his family. His parents were busy earning money to give the kids a better future, but the young man would soon feel that his friends could provide him a happier life.
But his friends were much older than him and were already exposed to drugs, giving him freebies at first. Villareal, who hails from Naga City in Cebu, shared that he actually felt happy at the time. The illegal drugs gave him false happiness and he felt that he was no longer left out because he now has many friends to hang out with.
But while drugs made him happy, his body was weakened by the illegal substance. Even as he got deeper into his addiction, he realized he was going in the wrong direction but was too addicted to care.
It came to a point that he no longer held dreams for the future. His mother suggested that he enroll in an engineering course at Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) but he just used the money to fund his vices.
One day, he just woke up at the hospital – he nearly died due to his addiction! He finally agreed to go to a rehab center and became clean for 7 months. Unfortunately, he relapsed. Thankfully, he eventually realized that this path would lead him to nowhere and that he could be hospitalized again.
He agreed go to another rehab center, Talisay Aftercare. This was where his life really turned around. He began to dream again – and he dreamed of becoming a doctor someday.
After getting out of rehab, he went back to school. This time, he studied to become a nurse, but wants to pursue his dream of studying medicine to become a doctor. He proudly shared that he has been clean for 50 months – that’s 4 years and 2 months.
“I don’t want to go back [to] that hell again. It is so hard to constantly wage war against yourself and against an invisible enemy which is the disease of addiction,’” Villareal wrote.
— Joy Adalia, The Summit Express
Villareal confessed that he was just 13 years old when he first used marijuana. The youngest of four siblings, with the older ones having a huge age gap from him, he had always felt left out in his family. His parents were busy earning money to give the kids a better future, but the young man would soon feel that his friends could provide him a happier life.
But his friends were much older than him and were already exposed to drugs, giving him freebies at first. Villareal, who hails from Naga City in Cebu, shared that he actually felt happy at the time. The illegal drugs gave him false happiness and he felt that he was no longer left out because he now has many friends to hang out with.
But while drugs made him happy, his body was weakened by the illegal substance. Even as he got deeper into his addiction, he realized he was going in the wrong direction but was too addicted to care.
 |
| Photo credit: Ryan Cabrera Villareal / Facebook |
It came to a point that he no longer held dreams for the future. His mother suggested that he enroll in an engineering course at Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U) but he just used the money to fund his vices.
One day, he just woke up at the hospital – he nearly died due to his addiction! He finally agreed to go to a rehab center and became clean for 7 months. Unfortunately, he relapsed. Thankfully, he eventually realized that this path would lead him to nowhere and that he could be hospitalized again.
He agreed go to another rehab center, Talisay Aftercare. This was where his life really turned around. He began to dream again – and he dreamed of becoming a doctor someday.
After getting out of rehab, he went back to school. This time, he studied to become a nurse, but wants to pursue his dream of studying medicine to become a doctor. He proudly shared that he has been clean for 50 months – that’s 4 years and 2 months.
“I don’t want to go back [to] that hell again. It is so hard to constantly wage war against yourself and against an invisible enemy which is the disease of addiction,’” Villareal wrote.
— Joy Adalia, The Summit Express
