Couple in recovery celebrates Father's Day with hope for the future

Kris Conner is enjoying every second with 4-month-old Skylar, and his fiancé Brittany and he's proud to have turned his life around.

As a teenager, his drinking turned into painkiller abuse and then heroin.

His whole day revolved around getting high.

"Doing anything and everything I could to get money for my next fix - that was my entire day," said Kris.

After nearly a decade of addiction, and surviving two probable overdoses, Kris was ready for treatment.

"I was just done, I was done hurting the people I loved, and ruining my life," he said.

During his recovery, Kris and Brittany met and fell in love.

After being told she couldn't have children, Brittany became pregnant last year.

And Kris knew he *had to confront her about a painkiller addiction she'd developed following a string of surgeries.

At first, there was denial.

"I didn't realize I was addicted, but I couldn't stop. I kept craving them," Brittany said.

Finally, Brittany went to Retreat, a Lancaster County treatment center with a specialized program for pregnant women.

Dr. Kristi Dively said, "There are very few rehabs that will take pregnant patients."

If an unborn baby is exposed to drugs they can suffer withdrawal at birth.

But Brittany's anti-addiction medication helped avoid that with Skylar.

"I don't know what would have happened if I didn't get on that medicine," she said.

Kris now celebrates his family and this weekend his first father's day with Skylar.

"She's the world. She's everything, you know, everything I do is for her - everything, day by day, minute by minute," he said.

Kris and Brittany say they help keep each other off drugs. It's a struggle they know will continue and they plan on telling Skylar about it when she's older.

But their journey is proof treatment works to beat addiction.

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