Former Red Wings forward Darren McCarty spoke with Fox 17’s Zach Harig regarding both his playing career and his battle to stay sober during and after his hockey-playing days:
“When you’re everything to everybody else but don’t know who you are, that’s a very dark, dangerous place. On November 11, 2015, I was literally 70 pounds heavier, my organs were going to explode, that’s how bad of shape I was in.”
Now, the Red Wings fan favorite is celebrating five years of sobriety and wants to serve as an inspiration to those seeking help.
“If you’re not happy with who you are or where you are, you can change, you can get out of it, I just want to be a driving force of proof to that,” he said.
McCarty is now an advocate for canabis and says the plant saved his life after his alcohol abuse. He’s also a radio host on Friday nights on WJR in Detroit but most importantly he says, he’s a people person and wants others to know they aren’t alone in their struggles.
“There have been a lot of different versioons of me at places but where I am right now and what I’m doing, I found my mission to help people,” McCarty added.
