“I woke up that morning and I just felt this bad feeling. I felt a searing pain. I remember dropping to my knees, the cat taking off, and my bag going flying. As darkness was taking over, I felt my body being flipped around. The last thing I saw before everything went black were C’s eyes looking down at me. It was my own personal horror story.”
‘Something hard cracked over the back of my head. I could feel his fingers on my neck, checking for a pulse to see if he’d just committed murder.’: After surviving domestic abuse woman says ‘don’t stand by in silence’
‘It took an overdose to come to the conclusion I was not the young woman I was raised to be. Suddenly, everything began to click.’: Transgender man advocates for support in the ‘addicted trans community’
“I threw heavy flower pots through the glass front door and begged the police officer to shoot me. Sadly, the beast that is addiction took over. As terrifying as it was to unearth such a deep truth about myself, suddenly everything began to click. I began to recognize why I couldn’t stay sober for even an hour. I was not the woman I was raised to be.”
‘7 months pregnant with his baby, he offered me some meth. I went on a 4-day bender. I wasn’t strong enough to resist.’: Woman survives domestic abuse, says ‘I am living proof there can be a happy ending’
“Every time people saw me, there was another new bruise or broken bone. The night before Johnny gave me some meth and pills, CPS said they had to come and do an assessment. He immediately told the worker I had been ‘up doing drugs all night.’ That night was the beginning of the end.”
‘This boy is never going to be up for adoption. Don’t get too attached.’ It was too late. I was in love with him.’: Foster mom fights for her adoption journey, ‘This is what I waited for, prayed for’
“My daughter was 12 and I still wasn’t married. My hopes of having children dwindled away. Suddenly, the cutest little 3-month-old boy entered my life and instantly stole our hearts. ‘His aunt wants to adopt him.’ They dropped a bombshell on me. ‘I have been his mommy. Nobody else was there through the sleepless infant nights. It has been me all this time, loving him.’ I felt like my heart had been shattered.”
‘You’ll never get out of this hole. Just go back to your old friend, heroin.’ I spent the night in jail, tying bedsheets around my neck.’: Man who battled addiction 9 years now owner of state’s largest recovery center
“I put the sheet around my neck and waited. I just couldn’t let go. I could hear the voices in my head saying, ‘You can’t even do this right.’ When I was released from prison, my family wouldn’t take me in. After too many broken promises, they were done with me. I owed $33,000 in child support and $100,000 for my crimes. ‘You’re going to be okay.’ My prisonmates saved my life. They took me in when I was too far gone.”
‘After rehab, I manipulated my mom into dropping me off at a bar. ‘I’m not an alcoholic.’ I got drunk and high that night.’: Woman overcomes heroin and alcohol addiction, ‘God put me on this earth to make an impact’
“I knew nothing about heroin. But I did it. That missing feeling I had inside of me for so long was gone. It felt warm and like I was being hugged. It felt like I had arrived. In my mind, I was a heroin addict, not an alcoholic. I got drunk and got high that night. I would share needles with whoever. I found out I had contracted Hepatitis C. One of my best friends, who I used with, had been sober for 18 months. If she could do it, so could I.”
‘I found you barely breathing. Lifeless, sleeved roll up, hunched over, gasping for air. I shook you and shook you. I was numb.’: Woman’s bittersweet realization loving heroin addict ex-boyfriend, ‘saving you will always be my best decision’
“I was so focused on not letting heroin kill you, I almost let it kill me. You pushed through to one year sober. But you decided to share that milestone with someone else. Forget about me and our life together. After everything we went through, you cut off communication with me through a text. You told me you were seeing someone else through a single text. That was all I deserved to you. ‘We can’t do this anymore.’ That was the most I could get out of you.”
‘I began violently shaking. Through my locked jaw, I muttered, ‘I’m addicted to heroin.’ My family had no idea.’: Woman overcomes addiction, ‘I am so thankful for this new life’
“I was living two separate lives. ‘Just this one time,’ I told myself as I inhaled my first line of cocaine one month after my best friend’s funeral. I would wake up, do a line. Go to class, do a line in the bathroom. Go home, do a line. Then came the needle. I felt the warm release of the heroin shooting through my veins. My stepdad found me. I couldn’t move, my body instantly got cold. ‘Oh, sweetheart. You don’t look like an addict.’ I lay there for what felt like forever, fading in and out of consciousness.”
‘You’re the 5th person to overdose by 3 p.m. today. You’re the lucky one,’ the nurse said. My grandma saw me turning blue. I didn’t feel lucky.’: Woman addicted to heroin gets clean, ‘There are not enough words of gratitude. I would have missed it all.’
“The only time I was high enough was if I was close to an overdose. He shoved the gun into my temple and screamed at my using buddy to give him the money. To be honest, at that moment, I wish he would have pulled the trigger. My arm was swollen four times its normal size the next morning. One person held me while the other drained my arm. I was just going to do a little bit and then go pick my daughters up from daycare.”
‘I woke up in a hotel room and rolled over to multiple guys I didn’t know. ‘Where am I? What the heck happened?’ Silence. I quickly ran out the door.’: Woman 1,000 days sober after long battle with alcoholism
“I slowly opened my eyes when I heard my name being called. ‘Yvette, you’re next!’ I was lying on a cold, stone bench in a room with a bunch of other girls. My head was pounding. I quickly realized I was still intoxicated from the night before. A guard opened the door and escorted me down a hall. It was then I caught a glimpse of my reflection…in an orange jumpsuit. Who was this person staring back at me? I did not recognize her.”
