Written & Transcribed by: Lennard Goetze, Ed.D / Graciella Davi, PhD
By his own count, he entered over 200 meth labs and logged hundreds of hours in fire investigations. He was no stranger to danger, but the chemicals he inhaled and absorbed day after day were a silent enemy. “I can tell you this much,” he says, “I shouldn’t be ave today.”
The Collapse
One raid proved catastrophic. As his team breached the door, suspects dumped volatile chemicals, creating a toxic cloud that exploded into David’s face. His sinuses, throat, and lungs were seared in an instant. From that day forward, his health unraveled. The list of diagnoses grew long: asthma, reactive airway disease, traumatic brain injury, chronic nerve pain, migraines, sinus damage, and complex PTSD. Doctors offered little more than prescriptions for steroids and narcotics. “Their version of hope was, ‘We’ll make you comfortable,’” he recalls. “But comfortable meant gabapentin, opioids, steroids—the very things I spent my career warning others about. I wasn’t about to numb myself into oblivion.”
At his lowest
point, David spent 30 days bedridden, unable to function beyond crawling
to the bathroom. The brain fog was so heavy he felt detached from his own body.
“It was like my head wasn’t even attached. I was floating through a nightmare.”
The prognosis was even more devastating. One pulmonologist told him bluntly that his type of lung disease usually deteriorated within three to five years. “After that,” he said, “you’re toast.”
The Search for Hope
For David, the worst symptom wasn’t the pain, the migraines, or the fatigue. It was hopelessness. “When you’re sick, all you want is someone to tell you there’s a way forward. I never got that. Not once.” So he began searching on his own. Long nights were spent scouring articles about meth lab exposures. That’s when he found the Utah Meth Cops Project, where Dr. David Root had pioneered detoxification protocols for poisoned officers. For the first time, there was evidence that recovery might be possible.
Through advocate Anne-Marie Principe, David connected with Dan Root, who carried on his father’s work. The decision was immediate. On his birthday in March 2020, David flew to California to start the program. “I had nothing left to lose,” he said. “This was my last shot.”
Entering the Protocol
The detox
protocol was strict and demanding:
- High-dose
niacin
to mobilize toxins stored in fat.
- Exercise to
stimulate circulation.
- Infrared
sauna sessions,
sometimes three 30-minute rounds, to sweat toxins out.
- Binders like
charcoal and zeolite to capture bile toxins
what was released. - Electrolytes
and nutrients
to replenish the body.
The first two weeks
nearly broke him.
“I was throwing
up. I had diarrhea. The niacin flush made me look like I had a sunburn and I
was prickly all over. My body was wrecked, and I wanted to tap out more than
once. But Dan was there every step—explaining why, coaching me through,
reminding me this was part of the fight.”
His parents’ words echoed in his mind: “If it’s easy, it’s not worth going through.”
Then came
startling proof that the toxins were leaving. During one sauna session,
gray-black soot began pouring from his pores. The smell filled the building.
Dan walked in and asked, “What is that smell?” David knew instantly: “It
smelled exactly like a meth lab.”
His sweat stained towels and shirts in vivid colors—blue, yellow, brown. (Image R) “Every time I went through the protocol, I left colors behind,” he said. “It was proof that the poisons were finally leaving my body.” Dan Root described it as “peeling back the layers of an onion.” Each round revealed another hidden layer of contamination, another chance for release.
The Turnaround
By the third
week, a shift came. The brain fog began to lift. “For the first time in years,
my head felt connected to my body again,” David said. His gut stabilized. The
migraines lessened.
Most
dramatically, his lung capacity improved from 40–50% to over 60%—and
held steady. “No doctor ever promised me that,” he said. “That wasn’t supposed
to be possible.”
Chronic fatigue, which had kept him in bed for much of the day, improved dramatically. Though nerve pain remained—a likely permanent injury—he could manage it better. “It’s not a miracle pill. But if you stay faithful to the protocol, you see results. Every time I go through it, I still get colors on the towels. That tells me it’s working. That tells me I’m still alive.”
Psychological Healing
The benefits
weren’t just physical. Years of narcotics and homicide work had left David with
complex PTSD. The exposures only deepened his depression.
“PTSD feels like being stuck in a hole with no way out,” he said. “This program gave me a ladder. It gave me hope. And hope changes everything.” The act of committing to the process, of sweating out the chemicals, of feeling tangible proof of healing—each step restored not only his body but also his will to live.
Building His Own Lifeline
After returning
home, David invested in his own infrared sauna and committed to repeating the
protocol twice a year. He has now completed it ten times.
“It’s the only
way I see myself extending my life,” he explained. “Not with drugs, but with
something natural, something that works. Every time I do it, I see more colors.
Maybe I’ll never have a day when the towels are clean—but that means there’s
still work being done. That means I’m still fighting.”
Doctors had
warned him that a COVID infection would almost certainly kill him. Since
starting the detox program, he survived it twice. “If I hadn’t done this
protocol, I wouldn’t have made it,” he said simply.
The Broader Impact
David knows his story isn’t just about him. It’s about every first responder, veteran, and worker exposed to invisible poisons on the job. “There are so many people out there like me—sick, hopeless, told to just manage symptoms. I want them to know there’s another way. Don’t give up. There are answers, and there is hope.”
He is candid
about the toll—financial, emotional, physical—but insists the price is worth
it. “Your health is everything. This protocol gave me a second, third, even fourth
chance at life.”
His advocacy now
extends beyond law enforcement. He points out that toxic exposures affect
occupations people rarely suspect. “You’d never guess, but one of the most
toxic jobs out there is working in a nail salon,” he noted. “Invisible poisons
are everywhere. Nobody is immune.”
Conclusion: A Living Testament
Today, retired on
disability after 14 years of service, Detective David LeBeau is alive because
he refused to accept hopelessness. Against all odds, he found a path that restored
his lungs, lifted his fog, and gave him back his life.
“I shouldn’t be
alive today. But I am. And as long as I’m breathing, I’ll keep telling others:
don’t give up. There is hope.”
David’s story is
a testament to resilience, science, and the unyielding human spirit. For every
first responder, veteran, or worker poisoned by invisible exposures, his
journey offers a beacon: survival is possible, healing is real, and hope
endures.
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