WASTED

MARKJOHNSON`S FATHER HAD `LOVE` TATTOOED ACROSS HIS LEFT HAND, BUT THAT DIDN`T STOP THE BEATINGS. THE JOHNSON CHILDREN WOULD TURN UP TO SCHOOL BATTERED AND BRUISED, BUT NO ONE EVER THOUGHT OF INVESTIGATING THEIR HOME LIFE. MARK JUST SLIPPED THROUGH THE CRACKS AND KEPT ON FALLING. FOR YEARS. BROUGHT UP IN A HOME SIMMERING WITH VIOLENCE AND DARK SECRETS, MARK FELL INTO BAD HABITS AT AN EARLY AGE. CONSTANTLY IN TROUBLE AT SCHOOL, HE BEGAN STEALING _T THE AGE OF SIX, WAS DRINKING BY THE AGE OF EIGHT AND TOOK HIS FIRST HIT OF HEROIN AGED ELEVEN. A SENSITIVE AND INTELLIGENT BOY, HE COULD NEVER STAY ON THE RIGHT PATH, AND THOUGH ART COLLEGE BECKONED, HE ENDED UP IN PORTLAND PRISON INSTEAD. WITH SEARING HONESTY, WASTED DOCUMENTS MARK`S DESCENT INTO THE VERY DEPTHS OF ADDICTION AND CRIMINALITY. HOOKED ON HEROIN AND CRACK, HOMELESS ON THE STREETS OF LONDON AND WITH A PRICE ON HIS HEAD, NO ONE - LEAST OF ALL MARK - BELIEVED HE WOULD SURVIVE, NEVER MIND RECOVER. _ND YET HE SOMEHOW FOUND THE STRENGTH`_O PULL THROUGH, AND NOW RUNS HIS OWN THRIVING TREE SURGERY BUSINESS, EMPLOYING AND HELPING OTHER RECOVERING ADDICTS. HIS STORY IS AT ONCE SHOCKING AND INSPIRATIONAL - A HEARTBREAKING AND COMPELLING ACCOUNT OF ONE MAN`S STRUGGLE TO SAVE HIMSELF, AND HELP SAVE OTHERS IN THE PROCESS.