While inviting your father over for dinner is a privilege, it’s not usually considered a major achievement.
For Joey Ortiz, however, it represents the triumph of a lifetime. You see, Joey’s father used to have uncontrollable anger issues. While Joey’s mother was at work, his father would whip five-year old Joey on a regular basis. He was a jockey, and he whipped little Joey with the same whip he used on his horses.
For most people, being beaten and verbally abused at age five would be enough to explain decades of self-destructive behavior. But this early baptism by fire was just the beginning for Ortiz.