Facing the Dragon: How a Desperate Act Pulled One Addict Out of Methamphetamine Hell

After more than twenty-three years addicted to methamphetamine and other drugs, David Parnell put an SKS assault rifle under his chin and pulled the trigger.

The blast took off half his face, yet somehow he survived. They called Parnell the "miracle man" at the Nashville hospital where he'd been pronounced clinically dead. Following an afterlife experience where he briefly experienced hell, David woke up in the hospital, and he was changed forever, both physically and emotionally.

In Facing the Dragon, readers will witness the slow, agonizing metamorphosis of a good-looking high school athlete into a violent, drug-dealing, psychotic wife beater whose children were terrified of him. In graphic detail, they will relive his suicide attempts and then walk alongside him as he endures countless surgeries to reconstruct his decimated face and learns how to cope with his hideous disfigurement. 

Now thirty-nine, Parnell is clean and sober and is making the most of the second chance he's been given, bringing his message about the dangers of meth and other drugs to schools, prisons, churches, and antidrug organizations around the world as a full-time lecturer.

By experiencing the nightmare of his life-—and his brief glimpse of hell--readers will find hope and healing when facing their own life-threatening dragons.

Nationally known speaker, David Parnell, is a methamphetamine and suicide survivor from Tennessee. Parnell gives an average of 120 keynote addresses each year. His audiences include students (grades 6 and up), teachers, administrators, parents, law enforcement and emergency service personnel, social workers, church members, youth groups, and anyone else concerned about drug use. Parnell is a powerful voice on the dangers of methamphetamine. He was a participant in the University of Kentucky's Drug Endangered Children's Community Education Program, addressed the Connecticut State Legislature in special session on the debate for restrictions of key ingredients used in methamphetamine manufacturing, testified on the mental state of methamphetamine psychosis during a murder trial, was a volunteer in a national public awareness campaign for The Partnership for a Drug Free America. Visit www.facingthedragon.com. Amy Hammond Hagberg is an author, ghostwriter, editor, radio host, and speaker. She is a frequent contributor to publications around the world on subjects ranging from marriage and parenting to spirituality and business and lifestyle pieces. She specializes in celebrity profiles. Her magazine clients include Redbook, SavvyMiss, ParentLife, HomeLife, Collegiate, Listen, and dozens of others.