“I knew something was terribly wrong. I was in law school about to collapse on the floor of my dorm room when I realized my life would never be the same again. It was like an all-night-long strobe light party in my brain.”
‘Nobody thought I had a problem, I was just the life of the party. I was reaching out for help, but doctors didn’t believe me. I was even suicidal on my wedding day.’
‘The other day I read I was a victim. Because my son died, I am considered a victim. I threw the book away.’
“I never thought I would laugh again. I didn’t deserve it. I lost a child. I had no right to be happy.”
‘To some, Maddie was just a junkie — when they saw her addiction, they stopped seeing her. And what a loss for them.’
“Though we would have paid any ransom to have her back, any price in the world, this disease would not let her go until she was gone.”
‘Hi Mom, I’m home, wake me up for school at 9, ok? I love you.’ I looked right at him, ‘I love you, too. Get some sleep, it’s late.’: Mom loses 26-year-old son to heroin-laced joint, says she’ll ‘always carry him in her heart’
“He was very upset and put his hand on my shoulder. ‘Mom, I would never do that to you or dad. I love this family way too much. I love you, mom.’ I looked straight in his eyes and thanked him, and I truly believed him. I still do till this day. He was home, safe, planning for school the next day. When I went to wake him for school, I knew he was gone the moment I saw him.”
‘My son died at the age of 26. He smoked a joint laced with heroin and died in his sleep. He had a college class that morning. He had his clothes washed and ready for work that evening.’
“After Alex passed away, I started putting together puzzles. Putting them together was putting me together. Like I had repaired it, as if it was broken.”
‘I gave birth to my first daughter when I was 21. I was in college and barely knew this baby’s father before I got pregnant. Here we are, about to be parents to 6.’
“My father’s wife passed away. They had a 2-year-old son. Biologically, he is my brother. My dad had to make the heart wrenching decision on who would be best fit to raise him.”
‘I can do this.’ I’d get my baggies, needle, tie off my hand, and in the heroin went. ‘Just not today.’ I was using in secret. All day, every day.: Woman overcomes drug addiction, now works as nurse fighting ‘the opiate epidemic’
“I’d snort a bunch of pills before a party, drink, pass out, and wake up completely unaware of what happened. My boyfriend was suspicious, but I covered up my drug use. That was before the needle. I said I’d never use one. Needles were for junkies, and I was not that. But my dealer shot me up. It was the most amazing, intense rush of warm, pure happiness I’d ever experienced, and I’d chase that feeling for years. There are so many times I should’ve been arrested, should’ve overdosed, should’ve died, but I didn’t.”
‘I finally got the words out, ‘I DON’T WANT TO LIVE ANYMORE!’ I grabbed a bottle of ibuprofen, filled my hand and swallowed. I will never, ever forget the look on her face.’
“The last message she sent to me read, ‘You don’t matter anyways, maybe you should just disappear.’”
‘The days I spent as an intern in the White House seemed far behind me. After all, I was an addict. A junkie. And a gay man, too.’
“Today, more than 20 people I know and love have been killed by overdoses. Those people’s moms and dads didn’t stop believing in them, ever. But that didn’t save their lives.”
‘I took hostages everywhere I went, and the first one was my grandmother. Loving, kind, and elderly made her the perfect target for my addiction.’
“She gave me a car, a phone, and a bed to sleep in. In return I gave her lies, sleepless nights, and stole everything I possibly could.”
