Page 7 - Silver Linings Issue3

drinking and partying. The older patient, a wealthy man, had lost his relationships with his sons. The man called his sons every night, but no one ever answered.
“I was still in a pretty good spot,” he says. “I hadn’t gotten a DUI yet, I wasn’t court ordered and my family was still intact. I could still make this right, I thought. I was in this sweet spot where I had this opportunity to get my life in order. I hadn’t ruined any relationships with my family, and I was old enough that I had gotten all my partying out. Just let me figure out how I can live my life in the best way possible and be as happy as I can with my family.
“I felt that was possible at Scavetta,” he adds. “I felt nothing was going to hold me back. This was going to play out the way I wanted it to.”
CC says he started drinking at age 14 and being drunk had become normalized to him. Waking up in urine-soaked sheets, throwing up or trashing a room was “no big deal” to him because that’s just what people did when they drank, he thought at the time.
“I was doing stuff I thought was normal, but normal people don’t live their life like that,” he says. “It took me a long time to understand that.”
Sobriety has worked out well for Sabathia. He went on to pitch four more seasons with the Yankees, allowing him to reach 250 career wins and 3,000 strikeouts – important milestones for Hall of Fame consideration. Before he went to rehab, he says, his body was breaking down from alcohol and he feels he believes he would have been able to pitch only one more season had he not become sober.
“When I went into rehab, I didn’t know if I could pitch without alcohol,” he says. “When I came out of rehab, I thought there’s no way I can pitch with alcohol.”
“That says a lot about how the mindset can shift,” Ryan Wade, MD,
a Yale-trained addiction psychiatrist who currently works with patients at Scavetta House, said. “Being here can be a transformative experience.”
Not drinking alcohol, along with a change in diet and intense workout regimen, has transformed his body. He
is 6-foot-6
and peaked at more than 340 pounds. He has lost more than 50 pounds, has a sculpted frame and appears on fitness videos.
“None of this stuff that is happening in
my afterlife of baseball would be happening because my body was breaking down from alcohol,” CC says. “It’s poison now. I don’t even think about it or need it.”
CC’s sobriety faced a stern test
only two weeks after his discharge from Silver Hill. He and his wife, Amber, had plans to attend a friend’s wedding and CC wondered if he could have a good time without alcohol and what others would
say about him not drinking. He considered canceling the plans but did not want to let down his friend.
“I had the best time ever and it was just me being me. It was just my
personality. It wasn’t the drunk CC trying to make up conversations
and sound intelligent, it was just me having fun,” he recalls. “We danced all night and talked to friends and I woke up the next morning and remembered everything. It was the greatest night ever. After that wedding, it shifted for me. I thought, I don’t need to drink to have a good time. I am a good time. The people you are around, and your spirit is good enough.”
To hear the full interview with CC, visit the “Silver Hill Radio” page on YouTube.
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SILVER LININGS MAGAZINE | ISSUE THREE | FALL 2021