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Statesville man publishes story of addiction, redemption
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Published: February 5, 2010
Mylow Young sat on the edge of his couch in his Statesville home Thursday afternoon and described the moment he contemplated killing himself.
As he talked about how he held a knife in one hand and began cutting his wrist, his eyes swelled with tears.
He took a moment to clear his throat and collect his thoughts.
"I wanted to die, but didn't have the courage to do it," he said.
Young, a Philadelphia native, saw suicide as a means to end a crack cocaine-riddled life — a life that had him walking the streets or sleeping in a subway car because he had nowhere else to lay his head.
But for Young, now 52, that experience has led to perhaps one of his greatest accomplishments.
Young, who has made Statesville home for nine years, wrote his first book, "Against the Gates of Hell: A Crack House Exodus."
The largely biographical book includes Young's life story, as well as the stories of people he has met along the way. The 460-page piece also includes some fictional elements, Young said.
Young is publishing the book through Author House Publishing and hopes to use it to educate addicts and the people who care about them.
"We don't go through things for ourselves," he said. "We go through things for other people to benefit."
Young started writing the book five years ago while he was in a rehabilitation facility. He continued during the program and hasn't stopped since.
"When I got the book in my hand I broke down and cried," he said. "It's the first real thing I started and actually completed."
Young, a former semi-professional football player, got his first taste of drugs when he was 12 years old.
And in the years that followed, Young said, "I slowly but surely went downhill."
He may be a man who now believes in the power and grace of God, but it wasn't always that way.
"I was bitter toward God because of the life I was in," he said. "It seemed at that point God didn't care."
Young said he is now a church man, and thanks God he is still alive.
Young's wife, Sondra, is proud her husband is helping others through his book.
"It's an awesome thing the way the Lord is using him," she said.
Want to read?
"Against the Gates of Hell: A Crack House Exodus" is available for purchase at www.authorhouse.com and www.amazon.com. E-mail Young at mylowyoung@yahoo.com
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