Krissy Mae Cagney found her fortitude and sobriety within the walls of her gym after battling drug and alcohol addiction for a decade. Now she offers others the same opportunity with free membership to the gym she founded three years ago in Nevada.
The 29-year-old had been in and out of rehabilitation centers since her early teens and even had been left homeless in the midst of her addiction, People magazine reported.
Her wake-up call came five years ago when an alcohol-induced seizure landed her in the hospital, with doctors warning she would die if she continued to drink and take drugs.
Determined to overcome her addiction, Cagney turned her energy to powerlifting and CrossFit and has been clean ever since.
“When I got sober, the only thing that had the power over my addiction was lifting weights,” she said, Inside Edition reported. “It was the only thing I would ever choose before drinking and using.”
Her passion led to the opening of Black Iron Gym and now Cagney is giving others battling addiction the chance to get clean by channeling their energies into CrossFit and powerlifting.
“Every time one of my gym members looks at me and tells me that they wouldn’t be sober without my gym or the program or me, there’s no other feeling in the world like that,” Cagney said, per People. “All I really wanted the whole time I was getting sober was somebody like that to help me and I never had that.”
Through her successful GoFundMe campaign, Reps 4 Recovery, Cagney has already helped hundreds of addicts through recovery by providing membership to the gym.
With the money raised, Cagney said she would ideally want to hire an in-house counselor to assist members on a regular basis, Inside Edition said.