TheWillpowerPodcast
TheWillpowerPodcast
Podcast Description
🎯 THE WILLPOWER PODCAST: Real Recovery, Real Stories, Real Hope
Emergency liver & kidney transplant survivor turned recovery advocate. Sharing raw, unfiltered stories of transformation from rock bottom to redemption.
👀 MY STORY:
At 35, I was a middle school teacher with a deadly secret - alcohol was killing me. Given 2-3 weeks to live, an emergency double transplant saved my life. Now I share what I learned about recovery and finding purpose after addiction.
🎙️ WHAT YOU’LL FIND HERE:
- Raw recovery stories from inspiring guests
- Practical sobriety strategies that work
- Mental health & personal development
- Honest conversations about the recovery journey
- Real talk about challenges & victories
💡 NEW CONTENT:
Mondays: Long-form interviews
Thursdays: Recovery insights & motivation
🔔 CONNECT:
Instagram: @thewillpowerpodcast
Email: [email protected]
💪 ”Your greatest chapter isn’t behind you - it’s waiting to be written.”
#SoberLife #RecoveryPodcast #AddictionRecovery
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
This podcast centers on themes of addiction recovery, mental health, personal transformation, and authenticity. Notable episodes cover vital topics such as the impact of trauma on addiction, personal sobriety stories, and actionable advice from experts, exemplified by episodes featuring former MLB pitcher Brandon Puffer discussing redemption and recovery insights from addiction expert Faust Ruggiero.
Sobriety podcast featuring real addiction recovery stories and practical tools that actually work.
I’m Will Gordon. Boston school teacher, two-time organ transplant survivor, and a guy who used to hide vodka bottles in places I don’t even like remembering.
At 35, my liver and kidneys were done. Doctors said weeks, maybe less. Transplants gave me a second shot. Sobriety gave me everything else.
This isn’t some shiny recovery show. It’s raw conversations about what addiction actually feels like, how messy getting sober really is, and the quiet moments that slowly pull you back to life.
Every Friday I talk with people who’ve been to the edge – some still hanging on by their fingernails – and we unpack the doubts, the small wins, the tools that actually work when everything else fails.
If you’re fighting cravings, questioning if it’s worth it, or just need to hear someone who gets it… this is for you.
Real stories. Real tools. No bullshit.
AND ALWAYS with Respect and Compassion.
🎧 New Episodes Every Friday: One listen could reframe your life.
🙏 Every donation helps keep this content going and reaching the people who need it most. → https://buymeacoffee.com/thewillpowerpodcast
JOIN THE MOVEMENT:
- YouTube: @TheWillpowerPodcast (full video eps—subscribe for the visuals that hit harder).
- Audio Platforms: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible
- Instagram: @thewillpowerpodcast (daily Reels, tips, and community vibes).
- TikTok: @willgordonsober
- Connect Direct: [email protected]. Book a FREE 30-minute sober mentoring session via my Calendly (link in IG bio too)—let’s chat if you’re ready to flip the script.
“Your greatest comeback starts the moment you decide it’s possible.” Feel that pull? Hit play. One story could change your lens. Subscribe, and let’s build something unstoppable.
Chelsea was told she’d die within a year without a liver transplant, and she kept drinking for nine more months, even in her hospital bed. Two years sober and nine months post-transplant, this is her raw, honest story of addiction, liver failure, and getting her life back.
“I’m this little nobody, drug addict, alcoholic that nobody ever listened to. And he goes, ‘I’m listening.’”
Chelsea doesn’t clean her story up. She lost her son at 24, went from never using to shooting heroin, contracted hepatitis C and never took the cure sitting in her medicine cabinet. Then she spent ten years drinking from the moment she woke up until she fell asleep. She documented her liver failure for 177,000 people on TikTok. She was told she had three months left and nearly sent to hospice. Then a doctor, a 2 a.m. nurse and a total stranger reminded her she was worth saving.
I’m a liver and kidney transplant recipient myself, and this is one of the most honest conversations I’ve ever had on this show. If you’ve ever felt like you didn’t deserve to be saved, this one’s for you.
CHAPTERS
00:00 “You Don’t Deserve That Liver” (Cold Open)
00:30 Meet Chelsea
01:41 Losing Her Son at 24
02:32 From Never Using to Shooting Heroin
05:31 “You Guys Have Only Seen Me Dying”
07:26 10 Years of Drinking & the Hep C Pills She Never Took
11:37 “I Was the Chaos”
12:22 DCF, Search Dogs & a Car Full of Alcohol
13:35 “My Life Is So Boring Now and I Love It”
14:10 Why She Finally Stopped
16:55 Why She Filmed Her Own Liver Failure
19:56 “The Smartest, Dumbest Person”
22:33 The Water Bottle Trick for Letting Go of Anger
23:44 From Toxic to Peaceful: Her Marriage Sober
25:55 Drinking in the Hospital
28:01 3 Months to Live & Hospice
28:34 Hospice in the Room & a Secret Referral
30:02 MELD Scores & 9 Months on the List
32:29 “Just Get Through the Day”
33:45 The 2 A.M. Nurse
36:57 “Do I Deserve This Liver?”
39:53 The Day My Family Said Goodbye
40:37 Part 2: Waking Up From a Liver Transplant
42:01 Suboxone & “There’s No One Way to Get Sober”
45:09 The Doctor Who Said “I’m Listening”
48:38 A Bile Leak & a Second Surgery
50:03 Depression & Guilt After Transplant
50:45 Letters to Donor Families
52:41 Meds, Labs & Life After Transplant
57:54 Life Now: Quiet, Simple, Sober
59:46 If You’re Still Drinking, Hear This
IF YOU’RE STRUGGLING
- US: SAMHSA National Helpline, 1-800-662-4357 (free, confidential, 24/7)
- Call or text 988 if you’re in crisis or struggling with your mental health
- Find treatment, including medication for opioid use disorder: findtreatment.gov
- Outside the US: findahelpline.com
- If you drink heavily every day, please don’t stop suddenly without medical help. Withdrawal can be dangerous.
BECOME AN ORGAN DONOR
It takes one checkbox: registerme.org
SUPPORT THE SHOW ☕💛
The Willpower Podcast is independent, made with a mic, a lot of heart and a whole lot of gratitude. If an episode helped you feel little less alone, you can buy me a coffee to help keep these conversations going. Every single one means the world to me.
https://buymeacoffee.com/thewillpowerpodcast
CONNECT
tiktok.com/@chelseablake1125||instagram.com/chelseablake_85
instagram.com/thewillpowerpodcast
This podcast shares personal experiences and isn’t medical advice. Please talk to your own doctor about your health.
#LiverTransplantSurvivor #SoberMom #HepatitisC #TransplantLife #MATSavesLives #OrganDonationSavesLives
Disclaimer
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