Agustín Núñez still keeps his soccer boots in his closet, preserving the gear from a sport where he once mapped out his entire future. Today, at age 23, the Córdoba native lives at the Amanecer therapeutic community in Pilar, Argentina, where he works as a peer support operator guiding young people through drug recovery. His journey to this role involved surviving a severe cocaine addiction, an overdose at age 22, and a childhood shaped by the silent complexities of adoption.
A Childhood Shaken at Age Eleven
Born in Córdoba, Núñez was placed in the care of his adoptive parents, Marta and Pablo, when he was just eight months old. Growing up, he knew them only as his mother and father. That perception shifted abruptly when he turned 11 while playing video games in his home. A woman with dyed red hair arrived at the door, and when Núñez asked his sister who she was, he learned it was his biological mother. He ran out of the house in tears to find his brother working as a pool lifeguard. That encounter explained why schoolmates had occasionally teased him with the word “adopted,” a term he had not previously understood. He also learned he had a biological brother adopted by another family in the same town.
The Turning Point at Seventeen
Following that revelation, behavioral changes, falling grades, and family friction marked Núñez’s adolescence. Yet soccer remained a steadfast passion that carried him through his early years, opening up the prospect of playing in Chile. To make the trip, he needed authorization from his biological mother. At age 17, he discovered she was demanding money from his adoptive parents in exchange for her signature. Refusing to let his parents pay her, he walked away from the opportunity. Shortly afterward, at age 17, he began frequenting nightlife and started using cocaine. Over the next seven years, he recalled sliding gradually into deep addiction, which he used as an emotional anesthetic to numb the pain of his family history and abandoned soccer dreams.
Survival After Overdose and Torture
By age 18, his siblings gathered around a table to urge him into treatment, but he declined, believing he remained in control. That illusion shattered at age 22 when he hit rock bottom following a robbery that resulted in him being tied to a chair and tortured. That same night, while filing a statement at a police precinct, he suffered a drug overdose. His adoptive mother rushed to his side as he collapsed on the floor, crying and begging him to respond. Facing the stark reality of losing his life at 22, he entered treatment and ultimately found stability within the Pilar facility.
New Life as a Therapeutic Operator
Having rebuilt his life with the support of his family and the therapeutic community, Núñez now uses his firsthand experience to reach teenagers struggling with addiction. Rather than letting his past define his limits, he draws on those difficult years to offer the kind of sincere embrace and compassionate listening that helped save his own life. He still holds onto his soccer boots, but his focus remains firmly on helping others find their way back.
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