Jake Wissink

as told to Jack Tierney

“The third time I overdosed I was in the driver’s seat of my car. I reached my arm back, and I had the person sitting in the back inject me intravenously with heroin. I blacked out shortly after and the two other people in the car threw it into park, cleared out, and called the cops. I’m glad they did. The officers gave me Narcan and brought me back to life. While I was in the hospital, recovering, one of the responding officers told me that I am better than the person who I had become. That message, and me finally being ready to give it up and make a change, is what got me to two years sobriety.” 

Jake Wissink, 27, used heroin for the first time when he was 19. Wissink has been sober since February 27, 2017. He was born and raised in Oshkosh, Wis., where he currently lives.