Brandon Novak: Back from Death's Door

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Brandon Novak was hooked on heroin and other drugs for more than two decades, but he is now clean and sober and telling others it's never too late to get help.

You could say Brandon Novak has always lived life in the fast lane. He got his first skateboard at age seven, and he turned pro when he was just a teenager.

"It was like God had come down and handed me the Holy Grail in the form of a skateboard," Novak said.

At a young age, he was traveling the world, skateboarding, and also making infamous blockbuster movies.

He gradually fell into drinking, smoking... then pills, cocaine and heroin.

Brandon was at death's door.

By the time it had me almost wrapped in its grips, I was almost unsalvageable," he said.

He spent 21 years addicted. He was in and out of treatment programs, and he said he and his mother went to church with one last prayer.

He remembers his mother saying, "God, please cure him, kill him, or kill me because I can't take it anymore."

By the time Brandon walked into his 13th recovery center, with almost nothing left, he admitted he was powerless against addiction.

He was desperate to get clean.

Brandon spent 90 days in-patient and then lived in a sober house in Bucks County for a year.

Today, he's been drug and alcohol-free for three years. He still takes it day by day, but also shares his story to save others.

"The disease of addiction is not a death sentence, as long as you are breathing, it is never too late and your history does not have to dictate your future," he said.

"I believe people need to see there is life after drugs and alcohol," he said.

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