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By Jody

My 14-year-old daughter screamed at me on my birthday this year. It was probably the best birthday present I’ve ever had.

Because it saved my life. Let me explain . . .

I was a serious drug addict for a long time. A high school injury — a torn rotator cuff that led to six surgeries — left me in excruciating pain. I took Percocet to alleviate the pain, but after a while, I switched to oxycodone, and that’s when my addiction really started.

I later met a man and had a couple of children, but even then I couldn’t kick my oxy habit. It got to the point where I would take a month’s worth of pills in just a few days, and then I’d make bogus appointments with doctors just to get more pills. That’s illegal, and I got caught and spent a year in jail.

When I was released, I went right back to the oxy, but I lived a relatively normal life. I was a hard worker, a good mom, pretty responsible. My children’s father died of an overdose, and that was hard on our family. But I pressed on. And then came the heroin.

Heroin destroyed me. I stopped caring about work. I started manipulating people. I was stealing. I became totally self-centered. I partied all the time. I chose drugs and friends and men over my kids.

My ex’s parents — my children’s grandparents — saw that I was out of control, and got custody of my kids. But even that didn’t change my ways . . .

That is, till my daughter screamed at me. She called me on my birthday. She knew I was deep into my addictions. She’d already lost her dad to drugs. And she didn’t want to lose me.

She screamed into the phone, “I just want my mom! I can’t lose my mom!”

It really hit me. The next day, I checked myself into David Lawrence Centers . I spent a week in the Crossroads detox program, and then went into their residential program for addiction recovery.

While in Crossroads, I started feeling pain from my old injury — pain I hadn’t felt for a long time. But it was wonderful, because it meant I was clean for the first time in years.

Crossroads also gave me tools to succeed. They taught me how to express my emotions, rather than bury them inside — or mask them with drugs. I’ve kept a lot inside for a long time, and they helped me get it out. I was able to say, “I messed up bad.” That was huge for me, a big part of the healing process.

Thanks to David Lawrence Centers, I was me again. But my story doesn’t end there . . .

A Real Lifesaver

When I finished Crossroads, they showed me a video about Narcan, a nasal spray that can prevent death from an opioid overdose. They sent me home with four bottles of it — part of a program to combat the epidemic — in case I might need them.

Well, I did need them, but not for me. A friend who was renting a room overdosed. I found him on the floor, unconscious, surrounded by drugs and needles. I grabbed the Narcan and sprayed it up his nose, and he woke up. I put him in the shower and called 9-1-1, and he’s OK now.

So I thank God for David Lawrence Centers, not just for helping me, but for giving me the Narcan and showing me how to use it. Otherwise, my friend would be dead.

And now that I’m clean, my sister, whom I hadn’t talked to in 15 years, has admitted that she has a drug problem, and she’s now at David Lawrence Centers . She’s in the Crossroads program, and we’re communicating again.

I still have a case manager at David Lawrence who is helping me move forward. I’m taking my GED, I’m working on getting my driver’s license, and I’m going to school to learn cosmetology. I should finish all that by the end of the year, and then I’ll get my kids back.

David Lawrence Center has helped me so much, and brought my family back together. They saved my life, and the people in my life. And I’m forever grateful.

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