Pittsburgh area teacher, basketball coach who struggled with addiction shares journey to recovery
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said April 2020 to April 2021 saw the most fatal drug overdoses in the U.S. out of any 12-month period.
A Pittsburgh area high school basketball coach and teacher was almost one of those statistics.
Steve Scorpion said he first took a pain killer at age 18. By 21 or 22, he said it became a problem. Fast forward to age 38.
"Fentanyl is cheaper, it's stronger and after you do things for so long, you build a tolerance and that comes with addiction," Scorpion said.
On his way to work one day, he overdosed.
"I was right on Route 22 you know just at the wheel. I guess had nodded out, foot came off the brake, drifted across 22," Scorpion said.
His partner, who was pregnant with their third child, got a call from the emergency room.
"We got discharged and he disappears again, and he was gone for way too long, and I find him and he's high again and I'm like what the heck," Marissa D'Altorio, Scorpion's partner, said.
"I was basically playing Russian roulette with my life every time I did it with the drug that is killing so many people. I was seeking that out and that was my drug of choice, but I never once thought anything bad was going to happen to me — that wasn't me," Scorpion said.
After overdosing twice in that one day, Scorpion went straight from the hospital to the Recovery Centers of America's Monroeville location where he stayed for 30 days of inpatient drug treatment.
It wasn't easy for him, or D'Altorio, who was at home with their children.
"I think the nights are the hardest because you're just home and so I would just cry at night and at least he wasn't seeing me cry. I know all the moms out there, you just do what you have to do," D'Altorio said.
D'altorio said it takes courage for anyone to enter addiction treatment.
"As we learn more about how the brain works, as we learn more about addiction, we're able to give medications and help people, to discover why they're using drugs and alcohol and then treat it from that standpoint," said Michael Ogden, the CEO of Recovery Centers of America in Monroeville.
Scorpion counts D'Altorio as his most powerful supporter.
"Seeing the good things happen gives you a little bit of hope and validation that it's going to be OK," D'Altorio said.
"If people are thinking that they have a problem, to identify it, and to be brave and to address it, recovery is possible," Ogden said.
Now, Scorpion continues his treatment with outpatient services.
"It's only helping me to continue to go because I want to continue to learn about this, I want to continue to learn things that are going to help me stay sober," Scorpion said.
Scorpion wants to keep telling his story to prevent others from becoming addicted and to encourage those who need help to seek it out.
RCA's Monroeville location offers everything from outpatient digital treatment to full detox inpatient addiction treatment, and they have beds available.