David Carr Recovering Addict and Columnist Dies At 58 Of Lung Cancer
David Carr, who overcame his drug addiction to become a celebrity journalist and columnist at The New York Times was found dead. David Carr recovering addict and columnist dies at the age of 58. On top of having to title of an amazing columnist, he was also a best selling author who reported on his own near death experience and recovery with addiction.
Carr collapsed in the Times newsroom. He was found in the newsroom around 9 p.m. and was taken to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The cause of death was lung cancer. Carr was a heavy smoker, which cut his life short. Social media has exploded with titles linked to Carr’s death and no smoking stances.
Lung cancer as the cause of death may come as a shock to many as Carr had already survived cancer once and struggled with alcoholism. Carr had previously battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which left him to have surgery on his throat. In pictures you can clearly see Carr has battled something, because his neck is visibly out of proportion to his head and body. With Carr going through so much in his life, people are wondering why he did not stop smoking.
In his 2008 memoir, “The Night of the Gun,†he talks about some very sad and shocking options he took. In the late 1980s Carr was addicted to crack cocaine. He was living with a woman who was both a drug dealer and the mother of his twin daughters. He was definitely in a bad situation. One night after the twins were born, he left them in his car while he went to go buy some coke from a dealer named Kenny.
Carr relives his horrible option, “But tonight I had company. I certainly couldn’t bring the twins in.†Carr continues, “Even in the gang I ran with, coming through the doors of the dope house swinging two occupied baby buckets was not done.†Carr makes his decision, “Sitting there in the gloom of the front seat, the car making settling noises against the chill, I decided that my teeny twin girls would be safe, that God would look after them while I did not.â€
With actions like these Carr’s daughters were taken from him and placed into foster care. Which ultimately spurred him to get into a treatment program. By 2008 Carr was able to look back and wrote, “Today I am a genuine, often pleasant person, I do solid work for a reputable organization and have, over the breadth of time, proved to be an attentive father and husband.†Carr’s father, John, also had his own struggles with alcoholism. His father was an advocate of recovery programs, which also help Carr persevere to sobriety.
David Carr recovering addict and columnist dies at 58, but has been through a long journey and had great success once he was sober. Hopefully his story can help some else that might be following a similar path.
