How a Rochester ALC teacher and a former drug addict teamed up to write a book and spread a message of hope

Mar. 11—ROCHESTER — Sweta Patel, a teacher at the Rochester Public Schools' Alternative Learning Center, knows the most important thing she can teach her students is to hope.

To believe in themselves.

At times, it can seem like a commodity in short supply. At the ALC, many students there face all manner of challenges — addiction, toxic relationships, homelessness, foster homes, anxiety and suicide attempts. Life for many is a matter of day-to-day survival. How to get students to lift their heads up, to imagine and glimpse a future of possibilities?

Rory Londer offered her students a road map to that future. Patel, who began teaching at the ALC in 2010, often invited motivational speakers into her class. Londer was one of those speakers. Londer was different. Londer connected with her students like few speakers had ever before.

But then few had the life story he had: Londer had been a drug addict for 17 years and led a wraith-like existence living on the streets. Having turned his life around, Londer bought the same laundromat he used to find refuge and warmth in and turned it into a million-dollar home improvement business.

His message was simple: I changed my life. You can, too.

Patel knew light bulbs were turning on. Patel will ask her students to write letters to her speakers to share any connections or takeaways. With other speakers, they would dutifully jot down some notes, pack their bags and leave. But with Londer, lifted by his story, students would be so consumed with writing that Patel had to call time so they wouldn't be late for their next class.

"There was an entirely different vibe to the class. The kids were just captivated, like leaning forward. I could see it in their body language, completely engaged with the story," Patel said.

In 2020, Patel sent Londer an email asking if he would be willing to be a guest speaker again. The coronavirus was just beginning to upend life. Londer would be doing his speaking online. That's when Patel got the devastating news. Londer had been diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer.

Over time, Patel felt a growing conviction take hold of her: She was meant to write his life story. Patel knew how audacious the proposal sounded. She had no professional writing experience to speak of. It was why it took a year to ask Londer.

And when she did, it was almost like an afterthought. In an email, she asked Londer if he would come speak to her students again, then added, "I feel like I'm supposed to write your story."

Londer said yes — to both proposals.

Their collaboration, "A True Story: Should've Been Dead," about Londer's inspiring life story was launched in January.

The book is written in Londer's voice. Londer is a fast-talker, a person for whom emotion wells up easily. He swears a lot. It's clear he is overwhelmed by the book, calling it his legacy.

In 2001, 13 years after his first hit of crack, Londer robbed a SuperAmerica gas station in Rochester, pretending to be holding a gun under his hoodie with his finger. In a hotel room later, he turned on the TV and caught his face on the TV screen: "Rory Londer, Olmsted County's Most Wanted Man." After he called police to tell him where he was, they crashed through his hotel door to arrest him.

Londer said he was determined to tell his story, warts and all. And that's what the book is.

"I wanted it to be true, authentic. I'm going to f-----ing say everything," he said. "I'm not going to hold back."

Londer said he wanted to make sure he didn't misremember things. So one morning, he jumped into his truck and visited the jails he spent time in, establishing timelines and collecting mugshots. It was like a tour of his past life. They included St. Paul, Minneapolis, Hastings and Washington.

While perhaps lacking credits as a professional writer, Patel wasn't without writing experience. She had been a compulsive writer since at least high school. Growing up at a time when there were no cell phones or text-messaging, Patel and her classmates would pass notes, and hers would be multiple pages long.

"They would still be reading (my notes) an hour later," Patel said. "I've always loved trying to make someone else understand what I'm feeling through my writing."

The two began work on the project in October 2021. It took two-and-half years to complete. Patel took a year-long sabbatical to work on the book.

But early in the project, Patel found herself stumped, paralyzed by a fierce case of writer's block. She knew she didn't want to write the book chronologically. She "froze," not writing anything for two months. While on a family vacation in Florida to visit her parents, Patel was standing on a beach when her eureka moment hit her. She would organize the book by the lessons she had learned from Londer's story.

The book doesn't come across as didactic. Focused as a reader is on Londer's story of addiction — seeming to break free of drugs, only to be pulled back in — the lessons take hold imperceptibly almost.

In one chapter, one of Londer's sponsors, Indian Mike, tells Londer to quit feeling sorry for himself when he's feeling down. The advice is harsh, unvarnished, and it's something not just drug addicts can benefit from. Stop moping and get out and do something for others.

"You know Rory, if you weren't thinking about yourself so much, maybe things wouldn't be so bad,'" Indian Mike tells Londer before hanging up.

Patel said she undertook the project with little expectation of big book sales. Londer said the goal was to sell 100 books in its lifetime. Patel says her goal was lower, 50. But since the self-published book under BookSplash Publishing LLC went on sale in January, it has sold nearly 1,000 books.

In addition to the U.S, the book has sold in Canada, the United Kingdom and Jamaica. Two books were sold in Costa Rica, which Londer takes credit for because "that's where I was." Londer said he's also getting speaking invitations from around Minnesota as well as Tennessee and Alaska.

Londer's prognosis, like his life, is in a rare place. Londer is taking immunotherapy drugs for his cancer. He said the cancer is in his blood and bones so he will never be in remission. But at his regular checkups, doctors tell him there is no visible evidence of his disease — NED — at the moment.

Patel said before she started the book, she felt like she wasn't making a difference anymore. The book project, she said, helped restore that sense of feeling purpose again.

"Part of my asking Rory, if I can take this on, was trying to find a purpose again. And that did happen. He also gave me my meaning to work again. He reminded me of the connections that I build with my students, how impactful that can be on them, but also on me," Patel said.