TURNING LIFE AROUND
Former addict writes her story
Kathy Tuccaro had tears in her eyes when she first stood at the foot of the Caterpillar 797F Haul Truck.
For one, she was nervous about getting behind the wheel of one of the largest trucks in the world.
And her mind was flooded with memories from when she was homeless, just two years earlier.
“I’m thinking how does this even happen?” she said.
Tuccaro, a heavy equipment operator in the oilsands, tells the story of how she turned her life around in her book, Dream Big.
The official book launch is Wednesday at the Edmonton Inn and Conference Centre, 11834 Kingsway, starting at 5 p.m. More than a dozen local non-profits will be represented, including several that helped Tuccaro overcome alcohol addiction and find work.
Tuccaro’s first career was as a nurse. She was working at the Grey Nuns Hospital when, at age 40, she “crashed.”
“I went to work and I couldn’t read my sheet,” she said. “I couldn’t function anymore.”
Growing up, Tuccaro had suffered family violence and sexual abuse — issues she’d never confronted. As a young adult, she was sexually assaulted. She turned to alcohol to cope.
After her crash she enrolled at Hope Mission’s Wellspring Recovery Program, a yearlong addiction recovery program.
Things were going well until she relapsed, eventually losing her apartment and her nursing job for good. She was homeless for seven days, six years ago.
“It’s doesn’t sound like much, but it’s enough to give you an eyeopener,” she said. “I made a decision when I was homeless that last day that this is bulls--t, this is not my life. I was 42, and I said, ‘This is enough.’ ”
She went through the recovery program a third time and has been sober since. In search of a new career, she took an aptitude test and was matched as a heavy equipment operator.
“I just about fell off my chair because No. 1, I’m 42, I’m a woman, and that’s a man’s job, I always thought,” she said.
A non-profit called Women Building Futures sponsored part of her training. Eventually, she was hired on through an Imperial Oil program to get more women working in trades.
A photo of the first day she drove the truck is now on the cover of her book. It was taken two years after she was homeless. The job has given her her confidence back.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “I recommend heavy equipment operator for any woman.”