“On my birthday, I put a gun in my mouth as my girlfriend pounded on the bathroom door begging me not to kill myself. I will never forget the taste of the cold metal against my tongue. I pulled the trigger, but the pin didn’t strike the bullet casing—a failure to fire. I had guns in my life since I was a child and I will never understand why that round malfunctioned. I had to accept I’d survived some of the most toxic environments imaginable. I needed to stop making excuses and take my life back.”
‘You and I will never speak again,’ I told my mother. She’d sleep nude next to me, crowning me the ‘man of the house.’: Man overcomes child abuse, trauma, ‘The person in that mirror was not the real me, and I knew it’
‘Hey, are you alone? I don’t know how to tell you this, but mom just called. Jason died. He overdosed.’ That moment, everything STOPPED.’: Woman overcomes Adderall addiction, gets sober after brother dies of overdose, ‘my new life is full of magic, love’
“I sat on the floor of my balcony thinking about how I could hang myself but not wanting to do it for the sake of everyone outside. ‘This is all just a game.’ I missed a metal railing by a few inches and went straight into a ditch. I flipped 7 times, hit a tree and went airborne. The next thing I knew I was saying, ‘Jason? Jason, please don’t leave me.’ I was in a full-blown conversation with him. He was in the same white gown that I said goodbye to him at his funeral. ‘Cass, you are not alone, but you need to go back.’”
‘I could’ve killed myself, or my precious son. I’m riddled with guilt. I’m so ashamed of things I’ve done in front of my child.’: Mother in the throes of addiction, ‘I don’t want to do it anymore. I want my son to have a sober mom’
“I have a toddler at home who I will not be able to take to get his picture with Santa. I will not be able to take him to see all the pretty Christmas lights. I sat in the shower and let the water run down my body as I cried. Then demons creep in. ‘It was boring getting high at home, taking care of a toddler all day. It would be fun to stay at a motel and just get high. I just want to do it ONE MORE TIME.’ I’m riddled with guilt. I’m so ashamed.”
‘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
“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?”
‘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.”
‘Mom, can you please come get me? I don’t know where I am. Please help me.’ The desperation in his voice nearly killed me.’: Mom says ‘I love you to the moon and back’ to son missing from opioid addiction
“‘How’s your son? Is he finally that TV star?’ Her question stopped me dead in my tracks. I left with tears in my eyes. He’s been missing for 2 years.”
‘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.”
