LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — As a young man, Greg Horn had it all in 2001.
“I had a 10 million dollar company at the age of 32 and life was going well”, Horn says. “Then it rained 13 inches in 24 hours and resulting in a flood and my 10 million dollar company went from getting ready to be a multi-millionaire in my 30s to being 2 million dollars in debt overnight. And then, unfortunately I filed bankruptcy. I lost my home cause I put it up for the business loan and I went home that night and my wife said ‘I don’t love you anymore and I want a divorce’. So I lost my business, home and marriage in a 24-hour period.”
Horn was devastated and considered suicide, until he says friends, family, and faith got him to a better place.
“Fast-forward (several) years, it winds up that I had three friends that died by suicide. Nobody saw it coming and I just thought ‘somebody’s gotta do something about this. We’ve gotta start talking about this. Suicide is the #2 cause of death for age 10 to 40 in the state of Kentucky and yet we just don’t talk about it.”
And that’s what he did.
He started a daily radio segment to start the conversation, and the floodgates opened as people began to share their stories in hopes of finding peace, for themselves and for anyone who is listening.
“Everybody has a story and we get the opportunity to share that with people, you know. Hey, you can make it too because of this”, Greg says.
He started a non-profit called “Hope is Here” and devotes his time to helping others.
“We all make mistakes, we all have…we all struggle, says Sherry Matherly, who met Greg in 2009 and leaned on him to get through a difficult time. “It’s so comforting to know somebody else is struggling…that you’re not out there alone.”
Gerald “Geo” Gibson agrees. He overcame a tough childhood and now works with the Lexington Police Department. “He’s all about people, man. He’s using his platform to help give other people a voice and what that does is, when people hear other people’s testimonies or what they’ve been through, you’ll find out we have a lot of similarities in life.”
“One thing that’s not overrated is hope,” says Greg. “I think if people could just have hope for 24 hours. I’m so thankful the way God has designed our calendar, it’s divided up into 365 days and we get a fresh start every 24 hours.”
Reflecting back on his own journey, Greg adds, “as I tell people, it’s the best and worst thing that’s ever happened to me. It was the worst because it was financially devastating, of course, and to have a failed marriage and to lose everything. But it was also the best thing that ever happened to me because I realized I need to prioritize people over possessions."
“We all kind of wonder what our purpose is in life and I know beyond the shadow of a doubt this is my purpose.”
