An Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling, Kurt Angle fought through neck injuries to become a six-time world champion in pro wrestling.
But behind his success in the ring was a dark secret.
In order to cope with the pain from his neck and other injuries, Angle turned to high doses of painkillers – sometimes as many as 65-extra strength Vicodin a day – that spiraled into a serious, life-threatening addiction.
“Before I knew it, I was knee deep (more like shoulder deep) into my addiction. I was hiding it from WWE, and at that time they weren’t drug testing for medication like they do now,” Angle wrote on his website. “I decided that I could not handle the rigorous schedule of WWE and I felt guilty about being a liability to Vince McMahon. So I asked for my release and I swore I’d get my life together.”
After several DUIs, Angle checked himself into rehab and wrote that he is now three years clean and sober. And now, Angle is partnering with Sober Network to launch a new recovery management app to help others to get the help that he did.
“I have started a program called #AngleStrong to help addicts in recovery STAY clean. It’s the least I could do for what God has blessed me with, and it’s time to give back for a life that was so focused on me and my accomplishments,” Angle wrote. God saved my life and he put me here to help others pull themselves out of the pit of addiction.”
Angle said that the “hardest part for recovering addicts is when you get out of rehab, it’s really hard not to relapse.” AngleStrong, which will cost users $1 per day, is designed to provide people who are in recovery and recently out of rehab with added support. The app is a one-stop shop for check-ins, appointment reminders, positive support messages, a personal calendar and other features. Users will also get a monthly conference video call with Angle.
AngleStrong is built using FlexDek, which allows the app to be tailored to each user by giving them access to surveys, reports and other communication devices that will help to personalize the information the app provides.
Family members are also encouraged to join the app to be a “lifeline” for those that are recovering from an addiction. If the user doesn’t “check in” on the app daily, a family member or loved one will get a notification.
“This will help to keep ALL eyes on the recovery process,” Angle wrote. “I am proud and excited to get started in our quest to ‘crush’ the addiction epidemic.”
The app will be released on Jan. 1, 2017. Update: The app will be released on Jan. 15 now, according to Angle.