‘My message is one of hope and restoration’
Former Hatter speaks on battling addiction and depression — and how a love of running helped turn his life around
Former Hatter Tarrant Cross Child has got his life together — but it wasn’t always like that.
The Hat High graduate left the city after he completed high school, and his path led him to an alcohol and gambling addiction that nearly cost him everything.
“Things got really bad for me,” said Cross Child. “I got to a really low point where I was going to lose everything. My job. My house. My family. I even attempted to hang myself and to overdose on pain killers. I woke up in the hospital and knew that I had to change things.”
Cross Child was born in Lethbridge, and moved to Medicine Hat at the beginning of his Grade 3 year. After his move, he quickly found a new passion in running.
“I used to run a lot,” he said. “I won the Rattler Run, I was provincial cross-country champ and I was going to Hat High and competing in track and field. When I was 21, I moved to Saskatoon and won a big marathon there. With the addiction I lost that. All of it.”After completing a 12month rehab clinic in 2015, Cross Child decided it was time to start running again. He entered the Saskatchewan Marathon just one month after completing his rehab.
“I had actually won that same marathon in 1998,” said Cross Child. “This time I came 15th. The feeling I felt when I crossed that finish line again was amazing. For so many people, the finish line is the end of a race. For me, it was the start of something new, and a new life. That was a big moment for me, because it was the start of a new life.”
Since that race, Cross Child has been travelling around the country telling his story to people of all ages, in hopes of sharing his gift.
“It’s been great to show my story with so many people in so many different places,” he said. “My message is one of hope and restoration. I want people to see they can get these things by living a healthy, active lifestyle. When I sat at my kitchen table, and I was about to lose everything, I felt hopeless. That’s when I tried to separate myself from my family, and I attempted suicide. I wrote suicide notes. I tried to hang myself in the garage, after that I took 40 extra strength Tylenol and had more than 20 beers. I want to show people that there’s hope. There’s always hope.”
Cross Child says he is hoping to come to some local high schools to share his message with students.
“So much has happened since I lived there (Medicine Hat),” he said. “I’ve been married, had four kids, have a business, and I do running clinics in northern communities I’d love to come back and share my story with some students.”