EPISODE · May 16, 2026 · 1H 31M
Life After Dying 4x, Getting Fired While on a Ventilator, & Still Being Suicidal at 18 Yrs Sober
from My Last Relapse: Addiction Recovery & Sobriety Stories · host Matthew Handy
Frank Parisi flatlined during heart surgery on May 8, 2023. He came back. Twenty-six days later he received the transplant that gave him a second chance — a heart from a nineteen-year-old donor.He'd grown up in Little Italy, the son of a father tied to organized crime, and spent a decade hooked on opiates before getting sober in 2011. By 2023 he was thirteen years clean, in the gym every day, and doing national marketing for a treatment company. Four doctors missed what was killing him before someone finally caught the rare pneumonia and sepsis that had moved into his chest. He kept working from the hospital — setting up West Coast Symposium meetings while intubated, dying and coming back four separate times before the new heart arrived.Then, while he was still on the breathing machine, the company he'd given five years to let him go. The decade-long friends he'd brought into his life started showing up at parties thrown by the people who did it.Jason Turner's wake-up call came differently. He got sober in 2003, worked at a private boarding school taking kids to Africa and Peru, then moved to Prescott, Arizona, and woke up one day asking where the industry he thought he'd entered had gone. A three-hundred-pound powerlifter, he walked into a CrossFit gym thinking he'd dominate and got humbled — until an older stranger pulled up next to him mid-run and said, "I got you." He almost cried. Eighteen years into sobriety, he still came close to taking his own life. Abstinence wasn't wellness, and he knew it.Both men talk with Matt about the conversation Frank had with God on the ventilator, what it means to come back from the dead with a teenager's heart beating in your chest, and why eighteen years of being sober wasn't enough to keep Jason from the edge.FRANK PARISI is an international bestselling author, keynote speaker, and heart transplant survivor who lives in Austin with his wife Kat and their son Sonny. He published Embrace Abundance in August 2024 on the one-year anniversary of his transplant. He is a managing partner and brand ambassador at Emotion Wellness in San Antonio.Follow Frank on Instagram @frankparisi2011Order Embrace Abundance at frank-parisi.comJASON TURNER is the founder and CEO of Emotion Wellness, an aftercare program in San Antonio built around the idea that the nervous system has to come first. He served ten years in the Air Force, where he trained bomb-sniffing dogs, and is a Pat Tillman Scholar. He has been sober since 2003.Follow Jason on Instagram @e_motionguyLearn more about Emotion Wellness at emotionwellness.comMatt Handy is the founder of Harmony Grove Behavioral Health in Houston, Texas, where their mission is to provide compassionate, evidence-based care for anyone facing addiction, mental health challenges, and co-occurring disorders.My Last Relapse explores what everyone is thinking but no one is saying about addiction and recovery through conversations with those whose lives have changed.For anyone disillusioned with traditional recovery and feeling left out, misunderstood, or weighed down by unrealistic expectations, this podcast looks ahead—rejecting the lies and dogma that keep people from imagining life without using.Got a question for us? Leave us a message or voicemail at mylastrelapse.comFollow Matt on Instagram @matthew.handy.17About Harmony Grove Behavioral HealthHarmony Grove delivers outpatient addiction and mental health treatment focused on wellness, creativity, and authentic human connection—providing a supportive space for healing that extends beyond traditional clinical care. Find out more at http://harmonygrovebh.com/Harmony Grove's IOP in Houston, Texas, is more than a program; it's a lifeline for those ready to take the next step in their recovery. We are ready to meet you where you are and find your unique path to change.If you're feeling overwhelmed or struggling, you don't have to face it alone. Reaching out for support is a sign of strength, and help is always available. If you or anyone you know needs help, give us a call 24 hours a day at 844-430-3060.Host: Matthew HandyProducer: Eva SheieAssistant Producers: Mary Ellen ClarksonEngineering: Chris MannTheme music: Survive The Tide, Machina AeonCover Art: DMARKMy Last Relapse is a production of Kind Creative: kindcreative.com
What this episode covers
Frank Parisi flatlined during heart surgery on May 8, 2023. He came back. Twenty-six days later he received the transplant that gave him a second chance — a heart from a nineteen-year-old donor.He'd grown up in Little Italy, the son of a father tied to organized crime, and spent a decade hooked on opiates before getting sober in 2011. By 2023 he was thirteen years clean, in the gym every day, and doing national marketing for a treatment company. Four doctors missed what was killing him before someone finally caught the rare pneumonia and sepsis that had moved into his chest. He kept working from the hospital — setting up West Coast Symposium meetings while intubated, dying and coming back four separate times before the new heart arrived.Then, while he was still on the breathing machine, the company he'd given five years to let him go. The decade-long friends he'd brought into his life started showing up at parties thrown by the people who did it.Jason Turner's wake-up call came differently. He got sober in 2003, worked at a private boarding school taking kids to Africa and Peru, then moved to Prescott, Arizona, and woke up one day asking where the industry he thought he'd entered had gone. A three-hundred-pound powerlifter, he walked into a CrossFit gym thinking he'd dominate and got humbled — until an older stranger pulled up next to him mid-run and said, "I got you." He almost cried. Eighteen years into sobriety, he still came close to taking his own life. Abstinence wasn't wellness, and he knew it.Both men talk with Matt about the conversation Frank had with God on the ventilator, what it means to come back from the dead with a teenager's heart beating in your chest, and why eighteen years of being sober wasn't enough to keep Jason from the edge.FRANK PARISI is an international bestselling author, keynote speaker, and heart transplant survivor who lives in Austin with his wife Kat and their son Sonny. He published Embrace Abundance in August 2024 on the one-year anniversary of his transplant. He is a managing partner and brand ambassador at Emotion Wellness in San Antonio.Follow Frank on Instagram @frankparisi2011Order Embrace Abundance at frank-parisi.comJASON TURNER is the founder and CEO of Emotion Wellness, an aftercare program in San Antonio built around the idea that the nervous system has to come first. He served ten years in the Air Force, where he trained bomb-sniffing dogs, and is a Pat Tillman Scholar. He has been sober since 2003.Follow Jason on Instagram @e_motionguyLearn more about Emotion Wellness at emotionwellness.comMatt Handy is the founder of Harmony Grove Behavioral Health in Houston, Texas, where their mission is to provide compassionate, evidence-based care for anyone facing addiction, mental health challenges, and co-occurring disorders.My Last Relapse explores what everyone is thinking but no one is saying about addiction and recovery through conversations with those whose lives have changed.For anyone disillusioned with traditional recovery and feeling left out, misunderstood, or weighed down by unrealistic expectations, this podcast looks ahead—rejecting the lies and dogma that keep people from imagining life without using.Got a question for us? Leave us a message or voicemail at mylastrelapse.comFollow Matt on Instagram <a...
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Life After Dying 4x, Getting Fired While on a Ventilator, & Still Being Suicidal at 18 Yrs Sober
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