Beardsley brings out the best in himself, others
In the fall of 1989, Dick was involved in a bad farm accident on his Minnesota dairy farm. Dick was using an auger on the back of a tractor to lift corn into a crib. Somehow he became entangled in the auger and it began to tear him apart. Before he lost consciousness, he managed to stop the machine. Dick had broken all of his ribs on his right side, his right arm, mangled his left leg, and beat up his head pretty badly. He was lucky to survive, but he was severely injured which required numerous surgeries and much rehabilitation. It is from that accident that Dick had his first taste of the pain killer Demerol.
He did recover and everything was fine for two and a half years when he got into a bad car accident and busted up his back and had severe whiplash along with a badly bruised spinal cord. More surgeries followed along with more narcotics.
Fortunately he was able to get back and even run a bit again, until he was struck by a truck while on a run, back in the hospital, more surgeries and more drugs. After all of this and several more accidents he became addicted to the narcotics. He started doctor shopping and then when he could not find any more doctors to give him the drugs he started to forge his own prescriptions. By August of 1996 he was taking a cocktail of Demerol, Percocet, Vicodin, and Xanax, 80-90 pills a day!
On September 30, 1996, Dick got caught. He knew he was in for a huge uphill battle, but he was so blessed and thankful that he was still alive. Dick spent nine days in a psychiatric unit of a hospital in Fargo, ND, and was put on a drug called Methadone, to which he became addicted. After his first hospital stay he immediately entered a treatment program. Three times they tried to wean him from the Methadone, but the withdrawals were so bad they put him back on it. He finally entered the University of Minnesota Treatment Facility in February 1997 and has been drug-free ever since.
Dick’s autobiography was published in 2002 "Staying the Course: A Runners Toughest Race". In October of 2007, Dick started the Dick Beardsley Foundation (www.dickbeardsleyfoundation.org) to help others with chemical dependencies receive treatment who can’t afford it. Dick also travels to schools across the country to talk to kids about leading healthy, active, lifestyles chemically free.
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