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Pain to Triumph: A Bodybuilder's Tale of Survival

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YORKTOWN, Va. -- It takes hard work to be a champion, and D'Shawn Wright knows that work doesn't only happen in practice and at game time. He overcame a mountain of personal pain to become a champion athlete and a champion at life.

At 5'9' and 270 pounds, the national bodybuilding champion doesn't mind the heavy lifting it's taken for him to see success.

"I believe pain can do two things to you. It could mold you or it could fold you. So, I allow it to mold me," he told CBN News.

American Dream 'Not Dead'

The award-winning athlete also owns an award-winning gym called Body by D.

"The American dream is not dead," said Wright. "I will tell anybody the American dream is far from dead. If you go out, what you put in is what you get back. Life treats you the way you treat it."

The "Life treats you the way you treat it" mantra is also the title of Wright's book.

The bodybuilder, businessman and single father of two made time to become an author in hopes of motivating others to find and pursue their purpose.

"People will plan their vacation better than they plan their own life, and itinerary to a tee," he noted. "What the kids are going to do? Whose going to watch the pets? I mean, everything is planned out. How much time they are going to take away from work -- everything is planned to a tee."

"But your life, if you ask somebody, 'What do you want to do?', they will be like 'Whatever happens, happens,'" he said.

Homelessness

Owning and operating his award-wining gym is a big accomplishment for Wright, but it hasn't been easy. For at least a year, the gym was the only home he, his son and daughter knew.

"I was homeless with my kids. I was homeless, living in gyms for quite a few years. Lived in gyms, hotel to hotel," he recalled.

"The first time it was just actually a bad relationship that I was in. It was really bad. It got violent. She actually hit me. I was a lot smaller back then. But that is how brazen she was. She hit me," he said.

The second time Wright faced homelessness was at time when he simply couldn't afford to pay for a home and a gym.

'I Never Doubted God'

The homeless years were tough, but Wright says he could always feel God's presence.

"I never doubted that He was there," he said. "You have to go through things. That is when your faith is really tested."

"So I never was like blame because He was always there. It was just me," he explained. "I had to do what I had to do. It wasn't Him. I wasn't doing what I needed to do for me, for Him to bless me."

"What was He going to bless?" he asked. "I wasn't putting the work in. Faith without works is dead. That is what the Bible says. I wasn't giving Him anything to bless."

Childhood Abuse

At that time, Wright was also hiding pain from his childhood. At just 7 years old, his baby-sitter sexually abused him.     
      
Recalling that time, he said,  "Every time I got dropped off, you are just feeling like, 'What is about to happen now?' The first time is still very, very vivid. Things that should not happen to a 7-year-old, happened to a 7-year-old, definitely."

Wright has found healing and forgiveness after keeping that secret from his parents for nearly 30 years -- even as he grew up training to be like his loving hero, his father.

My Father, My Hero

Larry Bernard Wright was a body builder and a football player. He died two years ago, at age 59.

"My dad was the epitome of health. About 220 pounds, strong, all state football, defensive end with Alabama. I come from an athletic background, so to see someone like him get lung cancer was tragic," Wright told CBN News.

His dad never smoked, but still dwindled from 220 pounds to 140 pounds after his lung cancer diagnosis.

"He went to the hospital for pneumonia one weekend and the next thing you know, he is not coming out," Wright said.

More than two years later, that painful loss is Wright's motivation to be a better athlete, better businessman and most of all a better father to his son and daughter. 

"My daughter is writing stories about me at school saying 'My daddy is the epitome of perseverance,'" he shared. "My son says, 'My daddy owns a gym,' going around telling all of his friends, 'Look at his muscles.'"

"It is just very proud moments for your kids to see your vision and to see your dreams come true. There is nothing like it."

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About The Author

Efrem Graham
Efrem
Graham

Efrem Graham is an award-winning journalist who came to CBN News from the ABC-owned and operated station in Toledo, Ohio. His most recent honor came as co-anchor of the newscast that earned the station’s morning news program its first Emmy Award. Efrem was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, but his formal television and journalism career was born across the Hudson River in New York City. He began as an NBC Page and quickly landed opportunities to work behind-the-scenes in local news, network news, entertainment, and the network’s Corporate Communications Department. His work earned him the NBC