Stories of Hope
Toddra Curry
Growing up I had a pretty good home life. I never wanted for anything and never did without. As I got older, I knew that I always felt different and would do anything to feel I belonged. In high school that led me to drinking alcohol and smoking weed. At the time I...
Shawn Allen
Shawn Allen had a normal childhood. He grew up in church. His parents didn’t drink or smoke. It wasn’t an environmental thing, he said.Shawn started running with the wrong crowd and experimenting with drugs near the end of high school. Soon, he alienated all of his...
Chris Mills
Chris Mills drank a lot and experimented with drugs – weed and speed – while growing up.He served in the U.S. Marine Corps – enlisting during the Gulf War in 1991. While Chris was serving in the Marines, he was married and had a son. The drug experimentation...
Ed Early
Star high school athlete. College baseball player. Expected to do big things. This is Ed Early.Twenty-three felonies. Went from an athletic 190 pounds to 130 pounds. People shut their garage doors when they saw him walking down the street. This is also Ed Early.Ed’s...
Miranda Baker
Hi, my name is Miranda, and this is my story.I am 31 years old. My clean date is Aug. 1, 2018.Growing up, I had a wonderful and loving childhood. I started to sneak around and smoke weed at the age of 12. By the time I was 14, I started to take my addiction to a new...
Olivia Broughton
She was born to parents in active addiction. By age 4, Olivia Broughton’s mother left. By fourth grade, she was living with her grandparents.At age 11, she was smoking and drinking, then started hanging out with gang-bangers in sixth grade. Sex with grown men filled...
Teresa Slaven
My name is Teresa Slaven. I am 26 years old and my sobriety date is December 28, 2017. This is my story.When I was just a child, my three older sisters and I were put into the foster care system. I lost both my parents because of drug and alcohol addiction. My mother...
Earl Young
He was born in Florida – a drug baby addicted to heroin before his first breath. Orphaned and then adopted, Earl Young was brought to Breathitt County, where he had a normal childhood. He played football and excelled in sports.Earl joined the U.S. Army after high...
Michael Hicks
I came from a good home. My parents were sober, and I had a good, healthy family. Then, around age 13, I started hanging around kids in school that got into more stuff. I started smoking joints. It didn’t seem like a big deal.But I started to enjoy the feeling, and I...