“‘Mom, what happened to you?’ I didn’t know what to say. I was a vegetable, changed by people whose language I didn’t speak.”
‘The car skidded. I tried to run, escape. A whirlwind took us up and when it stopped, my torment started.’: Accident survivor bikes 100 miles, ‘Life can be beautiful, even on wheels’
‘My children BEGGED me to quit. I clung to my right to drink the trauma away. I woke to my pills missing.’: Mom of 2 overcomes alcoholism, ‘My kids celebrate my sobriety with me’
“I moved in with a handsome British banker after 8 months of dating. All the while, he was lying about having a wife. I didn’t see sobriety as anything but a death sentence.”
‘My OB said, ‘If you’re having feelings of harming yourself or your baby, you need to go to the mental institution immediately.’: Mom urges ‘we need as many postpartum check-ins on mama as we do on the baby’
“A few weeks after my first child was born, I called my OB in desperation. ‘I don’t feel good,’ I said. ‘I’m not connecting with the baby. I’m so tired, I don’t think I can do this.’ The most common gift I received after childbirth was alcohol.”
‘I saw a message from a woman I didn’t know. My husband’s breath caught. I was already pregnant.’: After infidelity, single mom learns to thrive with medically complex son
“I watched as they wheeled his small body out of the room, shattered I hadn’t even been able to touch my baby. Suddenly, I had to provide for myself and my son. Motherhood already looked nothing like I had expected.”
‘He already called 911, begging for help. ‘That idiot is in the hospital. He probably broke his leg.’: Woman loses husband to alcoholism, ‘I’m still healing’
“He used to say to me, ‘Why can’t I stop at one drink?’ It plagued him. He drank. Then he drank a little more. I grabbed the essentials and I left. I thought I was making the best choice possible.”
‘Please give me a miracle. Turn me into a girl overnight.’ I kept it a secret. I was on a train headed for a dead end.’: Transgender teen embraces identity after life-long battle, ‘I am finally me’
“My family began deteriorating. My parents separated. My mom went from a healthy, loving parent to an alcoholic who couldn’t care for herself. She disappeared, temporarily, and then forever. I accepted I would have to continue living in fear and shame.”
‘My son was taken away from me and placed with his grandparents while his father sat in jail. I would come face to face with the devil himself’: Mom recounts struggles with alcoholism, ‘It’s not an easy road’
“I began partying with a different crowd, mixing Xanax and vodka to help me cope. It was during this time I met the father. I was introduced to the reality of just how mean people can be.”
‘Why don’t you get us some lottery tickets?’ I couldn’t imagine what he could be thinking. Tears streamed down my face.’: Woman details parents’ drug addiction and desire to break the cycle
“I was 19-years-old when I watched my parents shoot up heroin at our kitchen table. This is a picture of what I have left of my dad. I held my father’s hand as they told him there was nothing they could do.”
‘I hired a private detective. ‘For a few hundred more bucks, I can bring you face to face with your mother.’ Every time the phone rang, I hoped it was her missing me.’: Woman details life with addicted mother, ‘I vowed to be the best mom I can be’
“The doorbell rang at 6 a.m. I opened the door to see my mom standing between two policemen, muddy and handcuffed. She’d call me ‘Bucky,’ knowing I was self-conscious about my teeth. When I was 19 and getting married, no mom. When I was 20 and having my first baby, no mom. I had the same phone number for several years, but she never dialed it again.”
‘My hair fell out. I hadn’t had a period in 9 months. My daughter said with tears in her eyes, ‘I’m scared you’re never going to get better!’: Personal trainer overcomes alcohol addiction with exercise
“‘You have very little time left.’ I was non-responsive, my alcohol level was 0.32. It was not-so-silently killing me. I was fighting to survive.”
