“I was having a tough time yesterday missing my son. He was senselessly murdered this summer during college. I usually hide it behind a smile, but on this day, I just couldn’t. Zach and I work together at the Ford truck plant. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked. Like many, he said ‘sorry.’ We went back to work. Minutes later, he came back. Tears started to flow. Who knew 2 people with so little in common could share something so big and beautiful?”
‘Do you mind if we pray together?’ He voted for Trump, I voted for Hilary. He grabbed my hands. Tears started to flow.’: Woman loses son to ‘senseless murder,’ shares co-worker’s act of kindness despite differences
‘This is addiction. This is ‘just one more time.’ ‘Just a little hit.’ It’s a 3 a.m. phone call we knew was coming, but prayed never would.’: Family mourns loved one lost to addiction, ‘drugs don’t love you, your friends and family do’
“Addiction is a room (and whole hospital waiting room) full of brothers, sisters, nieces, uncles and friends beating themselves up because they didn’t save you. It’s a doctor saying the words ‘legally brain dead.’ An empty chair at every family event. It’s a daughter, a son who have to figure this world out without their dad. This is a man who loved with everything he had. Drugs don’t love you. Your family and friends do.”
‘You get the first puff.’ 3 men stood there, staring at me. I smoked something I hadn’t paid for, and now payment was due.’: Woman overcomes ‘nightmare’ crack cocaine addiction, ‘We can overcome the most tragic lives’
“Within weeks, my antique jewelry was gone. The horror was so awful, the things that went on. I remember begging her not to make me go into the room with them. She said, ‘It’s about to get real,’ and then she was gone. I found a single, unused stamp. I used an old envelope from an overdue bill and a scrap of paper to write the only family who would still listen. They lived 3,000 miles away. I wrote 5 words: ‘GET ME OUT OF HERE.’ That was 13 years ago.”
‘I was prostituting. We had sex, he paid me, but I didn’t leave right away. I was infatuated.’: Woman credits abusive relationship for sobriety after meth addiction, ‘I got sober for a man, stayed sober for my baby, now I stay sober for me’
“I became pregnant at 16. The partying escalated. To pay for my habit, I started prostituting. Most of the guys were married men wanting to cheat. They disgusted me; but then again, I disgusted me too. One night, I got a text from someone new. A John that would become more than that. I got pregnant with our daughter. It was awful. I lived in fear of him taking her from me, and when she was 6 months old, he tried and failed.”
‘My life’s over and I’m expecting a baby!’ I fell asleep behind the wheel and didn’t remember crashing.’: Woman gets sober after almost losing her daughter, says struggles were ‘worth it’ in the end
“’Do NOT stop at the liquor store!’ Yet I always found myself in the parking lot. My grandmother told me, ‘You are going to hell.’ I came into work each morning smelling of tequila and bad decisions.”
‘How’s your son?’ ‘He’s a homeless heroin addict. I don’t know if he’s alive.’ I left the nail salon in tears.’: Mom’s son ‘missing’ due to opioid addiction, ‘until we meet again, I love you to the moon and back’
“Last week, I ran into an old friend at the nail salon. I hadn’t seen her in 18 years. ‘Kerry, is that YOUUU?!’ She gestured to sit next to me. I obliged. With every question, she tried to one-up me. ‘My son is studying at YALE. The other is on the honor roll again! Isn’t that just WONDERFUL?’ Then, she asked about my son. I completely froze up. Half my brain wanted to lie, the other half wanted to say ‘Shame on you.’”
‘I found chewing tobacco stuffed in a couch cushion, bottles of mouthwash, empty bottles of vodka stashed in the drop ceiling. How did I not know?’: Mom recounts 15-year-old son’s battle with alcoholism
“He was 19-years-old with acute liver failure. As the hospital elevator doors opened, the words ‘Solid Organ Transplant Unit’ were burned into my brain. How can we be here now? He is so young with so much to life to live.”
‘Dear judgy lady on Facebook, I lost my husband with narcan a truck door away. I hope you never have to.’: Woman pens letter to stranger after husband’s heroin overdose, ‘we are all human, we are all in this together’
“I read the article you shared about narcan. Your opinion and commentary made my pulse pound and my face flush. I get it, you think it was his ‘choice.’ You think he didn’t love me or anyone else enough. You think he was selfish, stupid, and weak. He is the face of a million ‘junkies’ to you. But I know something you don’t know. I have lived it. I lost the most precious person to me without a ‘goodbye’ or a last ‘I love you.’”
‘I left my husband after being together for 8 years, and it made our marriage stronger.’: Woman says ‘mental health break’ saved her marriage, ‘it made me realize how much we love each other’
“I forgot how to be a wife. Or, at least a good one. I lost my temper at absolutely everything. I was hurting him, because I was hurting inside. So, I left. I got my 2 kids, and moved in with my parents. I needed to stop blaming other people for my struggles and look in the mirror.”
‘Daddy, I don’t want to go back to heroin again.’ I carefully zipped her body bag, and said goodbye.’: Dad loses daughter to Fentanyl overdose, ‘please wrap your arms around your loved ones’
“I got a call from the police at 5:55 p.m. ‘Are you with anyone? Is there somewhere you can talk?’ My daughter had received a ‘Christmas present,’ a free bag of what she thought was heroin. I fell to my knees in the snow, then rushed over in record time. She was blue-faced. I wanted to hug her, but couldn’t. There was ‘lethal powder’ still on her. She wanted so badly to stay clean.”
