Until recently, Mitchell lived with excruciating pain.
"On a scale of one to 10, it was 100," said Mitchell. "I dealt with that on a day-to-day basis, even with taking pain medicines."
The source of that pain went undiagnosed for more than 15 years. The pain was so devastating, Mitchell sayshe lost hope.
"I’ve been in dark places on numerous occasions, thinking about killing myself,” he admitted.
“When you’re a man and you provide for your family, whether it be spiritually, financially or emotionally, and you're not able to do either one because you’re not up to par.”
Hope was renewed when Dr. Thomas B. Freeman, a Neurosurgeon at Tampa General Hospital had a diagnosis — sacroiliac joint disease.