Marwin Strong is Spreading a Hopeful Message With Book and Upcoming Film
Writer / Kylee White
Photography Provided by Amy Payne and Marwin Strong
Marwin Strong was raised in the small town of Muncie. Growing up, Strong saw firsthand the effects drugs and violence had on the community. After facing his own hardships and struggles, Strong decided to turn his life around and work on helping the community.
When he was younger, Strong went to a party that ended up changing the course of his life. He found himself a victim of poisoning from iodine, which someone had put into his drink.
“When my mother found me, I was in the bathroom having grand mal seizures as iodine was coursing through my body, and that’s the last thing I remember,” Strong says. “Then all I know is that I woke up, and my family said that the doctors came in and told them that I was going to die if I came out of this situation, and that I would be in a vegetative state.”
Strong had two choices – go back to living his old life, or change the way he was living life and start righting his wrongs. At that point in his life, Strong was getting ready to try out for the Charlotte Hornets NBA basketball team. After ending up in the hospital from being drugged at the party, Strong never gave up hope. He went through many stages of therapy, and spent a total of two years in the hospital. The same year he was released, Strong was able to play basketball on a scholarship for the University of Massachusetts Boston. He wrote a book, “Back From the Shadow of Death: Fulfilling Life’s Mission With God’s Help,” about his life, and how he found God and turned his life around following his unfortunate incident.
“‘Back From the Shadow of Death’ is basically a true story about my life,” he says. “The good thing about it is that I’ve been blessed to live and tell this story. My message is achieving dreams that are possible for everyone.”
Following the success of his book, Strong has teamed up with The Blue House, an independent film company based in Fishers, Indiana, to create a film based off of his book.
“It’s going to be a more ’90s film,” Strong says. “It’s going to be dynamic. After that, we are going to have a red-carpet opening in Muncie and I want everyone to come out.”
After the release of the movie, Strong is planning to hit the road and tour several different colleges, to show his movie to the student body and governing officials in the cities he visits.
“The reason why we’re going on tour with this film is because we want to go to a lot of colleges and have them watch this movie,” Strong says. “We will then bring the mayor in of these cities, the governor from these cities, and we are going to have a panel discussion on how to stop drug violence and keep it safe.”
Along with writing his book and being a part of creating his movie, Strong has been able to speak publicly at events and memorials. Earlier this year Strong was able to meet with the mayor of Muncie and create a declaration proclamation. This means that every year on September 26, Muncie will participate in a candlelight vigil, a balloon release or a community picnic, in honor of those who have lost loved ones to gun violence.
Even after all that Strong has been able to accomplish, he is not done. He is looking forward to releasing two new books. One is a kids book and focuses on peer pressure. The other will be a continuation of his first book. Strong is seeking donations to his GoFundMe page to help with his future projects, and any donation would be greatly appreciated by him.
Go to marwinstrong.com to learn more about Strong and his upcoming movie, his GoFundMe page, and locations to order his book.
