LOWELL — It has been more than a decade since Shawn Gillespie’s acrimonious divorce turned into a custody battle that drained him mentally, physically and financially.
After only a year of marriage and one son, Gillespie and his wife split in 2002, triggering a downhill spiral that forced him to spend thousands of dollars in lawyers’ fees and court costs, and lost time at work, in a battle for visitation rights to see his son.
“I had the fight of my life,” said the 51-year-old truck driver from Lowell.