Meet the 2025 Life Change Program Graduates: Fletcher Wilcox

When Fletcher Wilcox plays with his 2-year-old daughter Riley, his expression reflects the joy and determination he feels in being a father after drugs nearly took his life.

“I worked hard for two years to have her in my life,” he said, as he followed her around a playground and pushed her in a tiny toy car. “It’s a miracle. This wouldn’t have been possible without Life Change and without all the people who never gave up on me.”

Fletcher had many reasons to believe that people couldn’t be relied upon. He grew up in chaos with parents who divorced when he was young and who were heavily addicted to alcohol and other substances. He bounced between his mother and father’s homes, never finding a stable anchor that could make him feel secure. Then his mother died just before his 17th birthday.  

“I grew up a lot in isolation; I never felt like I fit in,” Fletcher shared. “I moved around a lot and it was easier to isolate than make friends.”

Fletcher realized that substances were a powerful coping mechanism that could help him bear his isolation. His use eventually became dependence and he couldn’t stop. He needed drugs to help him hide.

From childhood to young adulthood, his losses piled up – he experienced homelessness several times, he lost a girlfriend, and he almost lost his mind. He eventually got into another relationship and got clean for a little while and then he got the news that would alter his life: He was going to be a father.

He was scared, confused and excited all at once and wanted to stay sober, but he lacked the tools, support and relationships that he needed, and he experienced his worst relapse yet.

“At that point, I was ready to give up – abandon my responsibilities, live on the streets, or end my life,” Fletcher says.

When Fletcher found his way into the men’s Life Change Program, he thought he had nothing left to live for and no way he could ever have his daughter in his life, but the staff and other men in the program showed him a love and grace that made him believe he might still become something other than a statistic.

Through patiently working through each phase of the program, surrounded by supportive relationships, Fletcher has found stability and hope. He says he acquired the building blocks for success in all areas of his life through the program.

“Addicts have a really hard time following routine. This program helped me to get into a routine, and going to classes humbled me. I’ve built a foundation now for how to create multiple routines to manage my life,” he said. “Living with all the men in the program is what helped me learn how to navigate conflict, which is a crucial skill.”

Fletcher now has a deep and growing parenting role with his two-year-old daughter and believes good things are coming to him in the future. “Living in recovery takes a lot of patience and staying humble, but I know I can do it.”

Help us celebrate Fletcher and the other graduates of the Life Change Program! Come and show your support for a group of men and women who have worked through incredible adversity to come to a place of healing, authentic change and new life.

 You are invited to his graduation ceremony!

Click the button below to join our Facebook event page, and get important updates, graduate news and more:

March 7

6 p.m.

City First Church

830 Madison Street, Eugene