Tragedies can’t keep student down for long

By Kalee Vaughn

Change: to transform or convert. Throughout Travis Mohney’s life, change has been a recurring theme.

Mohney, 22, began his life on Aug. 1, 1987 in San Diego, Calif.  He was the first child for his parents.

“My parents may have been married and I may have been a planned child, but that doesn’t mean things were easy,” he said.

Both of Mohney’s parents were substance abusers. They were able to hide it from him during the early years of his life, but he eventually caught on.

His father decided to change his ways, which included filing for divorce and moving out of California.

In 2003, when Mohney was 15, he decided to go live with his father in Mississippi. His father had completely turned his life around and Mohney found that he had a new stepmom and two younger half-brothers.

The change Mohney saw in his father inspired him to invest more in his religious beliefs.  He began attending church regularly and even started playing guitar for the church’s Christian band.

However, life didn’t stay good. On April 7, 2004, Mohney’s father was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

“Devastated doesn’t begin to describe how I felt,” he said. “It was completely unexpected. The best memories I have are of my dad just being a dad.”

Five months later, on Sept. 7, Mohney’s father died.

The next year, Mohney experienced another unexpected blow: Hurricane Katrina. He, along with his stepmom and half-brothers, had to stay in the Biloxi Veteran’s Affairs Hospital for five days. He slept in an exam room until his uncle, Ken Jones, flew out from Arizona to get him.

Jones landed in Birmingham, Ala., and drove a rental car to pick up Mohney. On the way to Arizona, Mohney drove along the coast while his uncle, who is a professional photographer, took pictures of the damage.

Before the Coast Guard advised them to take a different route, they stopped at the cemetery where Mohney’s father is buried.

“There were boats stuck in the cemetery from when the water levels went down,” he said.  “That was the last time I saw my dad’s grave.”

Arriving in Arizona promised a fresh start for Mohney. He enrolled in Pima Community College and had his tuition waived because he was a Hurricane Katrina survivor. Things seemed to be looking up once again.

After three semesters at PCC, however, Mohney dropped out. He became friends with people who introduced him to a new way of thinking.

The devastation of his father’s death and of the hurricane had shaken him loose from his Christian beliefs, so he welcomed this new lifestyle. Unfortunately, it involved drug use.

Mohney spent several months holed up in his apartment, experimenting with drugs that his new friends provided.

It finally got so out of control that he thought he might have severely damaged his brain. That night, he knew that he was done with drugs forever and quit cold turkey.

He is now attending PCC again, studying photography. He plans on transferring to Northern Arizona University and hopes to start his own photography business.

“I saw my dad turn his life around,” he said, “and I knew I could do the same.”

Travis Mohney

Photo by Abigail Oberg