Patient Success Story: Anthony Dove

Anthony Dove is now a mitigation manager at a disaster restoration company

Patient Success Story: Anthony Dove

Few things are more rewarding to us at the Healing Bridge Clinic than to learn of a former patient who is now living a life of renewed health, dignity, and hope. We first introduced you to our patient Anthony two years ago. At the time, Anthony had just been cured of Hepatitis C at our clinic - something that he didn’t even know was possible after years of drug addiction.

“It was just amazing that I got to get that treatment,” he said of his first trip to the Healing Bridge Clinic. “It’s a whole other experience. It’s more than just a medical facility. They treat you with love. They open the door for you to take care of yourself.”

Anthony’s path to our clinic is part of one of the many promises God made good on in the years after Anthony had fallen to his knees and prayed inside his jail cell. At the time, he faced going to prison for the fifth time and had just learned about the death of his grandfather Sonny – the man who raised him.

“I cried out to the Lord that I don’t want to keep doing this. My children were growing up and here I am mid-30s and needed to change,” he said.

Anthony at his wedding with his stepson and daughter

“The Lord came to me and the exact words He said were to renounce my gang affiliation. The Lord said, ‘If you surrender and serve me, I will give you a family, a purpose, your daughter back, and transform your entire life’.”

Anthony renounced his gang affiliation and risked his life doing so while still in jail. A couple months later, the same judge who told him he would be going to prison for eight years ordered him into A Better Way Ministries - an 18-month discipleship program for men struggling with addiction.

“The only thing that changed is that I had listened to the Lord. The judge didn’t know that. Only the Lord knew it and changed his heart,” said Anthony.

As part of our unique partnership with A Better Way Ministries, men in the program receive medical care, at no charge, at our clinic. After Anthony underwent three months of treatment for Hepatitis C with us, he tested negative for the disease. By the time he got to his graduation from A Better Way, he said he felt refreshed and could think clearly. “I could feel the difference between my body fighting a disease and being cured of it.”

“From the beginning of me being at Healing Bridge Clinic, I was welcomed. It felt like somebody cared about me finally. They didn’t judge me. They were so sweet from Kat to Brother Mike. They were so personal to me. They encouraged me and they wanted to know along my journey what was happening. They kept up with me,” recalled Anthony. “It made me have a whole new outlook of taking care of myself. It made me review society because I had felt like an outcast.”

We continue to keep track of Anthony’s incredible journey, even though he no longer needs the free medical care we provided him. After graduating from A Better Way in June of 2023, a judge awarded Anthony custody of his then 16-year-old daughter. He found what he calls the “first serious job” of his life, so that he could afford to take care of her. He met his future wife, married months later, and now has a little girl named Sunny after the grandfather he lost while in jail. He also cares for his 10-year-old stepson. To add to all that, Anthony took a job in a new company and is now overseeing a $1 million restoration project as the new manager of mitigation. He visits inmates and preaches to them about changing their lives and is working on becoming a pastor in his church’s recovery program.

“The Lord did everything he said he would do in my life. It still blows my mind. I went from being a menace to society, to giving my life to Jesus, and then getting healed at Healing Bridge,” he said. “It all started from surrendering that day and trusting God and being serious with him.”