The second half of Derrick’s adult life began on March 27, 2025.
That was the day, at 33 years old, he decided to walk into a room at a church in Willoughby for a Gamblers Anonymous meeting. Before that was a decade of numbers: overs and unders, parlays, three credit cards maxed out to the tune of $10,000 each, some $20,000 in gambling debts.
Derrick’s body shook as his car idled in the parking lot of Grace Episcopal Church. This was one of two options — walk into the church or go home and try to handle the problem himself. But the problem had to be solved. After a decade of betting, ten years of the fraternity of The Game, the gravity of the situation was clear. He had a wife and two kids, and he might lose them….