6th and 1st Anniversaries

It was the year 2000. The world of computers didn't crash with the Y2K scare but my personal world crashed all around me. My husband of 21 years had passed away in January after a long struggle with pain and addiction. My mother passed away 10 days after him from renal failure caused by the killer disease, diabetes. My oldest son was 16 at the time and the younger one only 11. The older son started acting out, spinning out of control, going completely wild and acting and behaving like some awful creature from another planet. I didn't know how to handle his grief and despair. I didn't know he was drinking and abusing drugs that was causing him to physically and spiritually wither and decay before my eyes. The tantrums and fights escalated. I was forced to seek help and I asked for it everywhere. Counseling, church support, friends and family were helpless and could offer no solutions. I was dealing with an unseen force that was destoying the rest of my family like a tornado. Someone mentioned Valley Hope. They told me the only facility that would take an adolescent male was 3 states away. By the grace of God I took him to Valley Hope in Missouri and there he got the help and treatment he so desperately needed. It was there during family week that I first learned about the disease of addiction and how it had destroyed my husband and now was threatening the life of my son. I learned about the family disease of alcoholism and how I was contributing to it. I learned about meetings and support groups and honesty. I found out there were many family members like me who loved and were effected by people like my son and that there was a world of recovery and understanding for me and my loved ones. I found Valley Hope!

Today my oldest son is celebrating his 6th year of sobriety. His brother just received his 1st year birthday chip at age 17. I am blessed with a program of serenity and service I will follow for the rest of my life. Thanks for starting my family on the road to recovery, Valley Hope!

By: S