The National Addiction Memorial honors the loved ones we’ve lost.

My sister had five children and she loved them dearly, thought about them 24/7, but her addiction got the best of her so she lost contact with all her babies, she was also very distant from my mom and I we tried helping her so many times but she never wanted it! Heroin had a very strong hold on her. All she wanted was that drug and all we wanted was our loved one back, but we already knew that she was not coming back-- it was too late.

It went on since she was a lot younger

My 28 year son Kyle wasn't addicted to drugs. He took great pride living a healthy lifestyle.He chose to drive after a couple beers while on a medication,extremely overtired. However (buzzed) driving is still a reckless, dangerous decision. He had a serious accident and was almost killed. He suffered a brain injury as well a downward spiral of events financially that put a strain on him. He was a proud man and feared being labeled as a drunk due to stigma. It's very black and white with hospitals/Dr's treating you and find alcohol in your blood. Whether a point over legal limit "as his" was,even legal repercussions follow as though your a hardcore alcoholic. One bad decision caused him much guilt and shame for fear of being judged. He swore to never drink and drive again. One year later he was very stressed out drank again while on several medications due to his prior injuries,his judgement was impaired and he drove again, speeding with no seatbelt. He did not survive this time. The medical community had automatically put him a category that is demeaning in nature, instead of grouping people they should be treating each person as an individual.

He struggled with addiction long before we ever knew there was a problem. By the time we discovered there was a problem, it was too late. We did everything in our power to help him beat it, but it had such a hold on him, there was nothing anyone could do, not even him, no matter how hard we or he tried, nothing worked. He developed Osteomyelitis, from dirty dope and was misdiagnosed at a local hospital, which caused 3 vertebrae to shatter and a kyphotic angulation to form, which meant even after reconstructive surgery, he was going to be disabled for life. He was put on iv antibiotics, for a year, to take care of the infection in his bones, before they could do any surgery. In the meantime, he was on an extensive amount of a multitude of painkillers. He was a week away from having the surgery, when his organs began shutting down. he died from sepsis and multiple organ failure.

Kodyes struggles began from about 13 years old. What began with some weed somehow ended with addictions to prescription pills and heroine. I know she wanted to give up. But the addiction beat her.

Kirby began abusing alcohol, marijuana and Xanax in high school. We sent her to rehab in Newport Beach, CA on December 4, 2012 when she was 18 years old. She was desperately out of control here at home in Midland, TX. She spent six months in rehab and seemed like a changed person who wanted to be sober, have a productive future and get along with her family who loved her so much. She went back to school in California and seemed to be doing really well. Unfortunately, we later found out that she was using various drugs and drinking during most of that time. In October of 2015, we learned that Kirby was using meth and heroin. We cut off most of our financial support and told her we would send her to rehab in Florida. She flew to Jacksonville, FL on December 2, 2015. She kept relapsing and moved from treatment center to treatment center and finally completed a 30 day program. She moved into sober living and was doing IOP. She got a job at a candy store and was employee of the month! She finally decided to work the 12 Steps and she had a sponsor. She died on February 26, 2016 from heroin and fentanyl intoxication (overdose). I believe that she had the mindset to use just one more time and then move forward with her life. She had been sober for a little while and was not able to tolerate the amount she used on February 26, the worst day of our lives. She was only 22 years old.

He found alcohol early in life and it took control in his mid-20's. He and our family did not know or understand how to deal with the disease and its many challenges. After 25 plus years of pain and struggles he became sober, built a wonderful business, married his wonderful wife and found joy in his life. After over 10 years of sobriety and during the financial crisis and some health issues he began to abuse pain meds which led to alcohol and his death. Addiction is a BEAST.

My dad's struggle was something that built really slowly over time. Coming from a rough childhood, he was never really given the skills he needed to cope with the many losses and hard times he was dealt. And he was way too prideful (and stubborn!) to admit when he needed help or when he had a problem. When his wife passed away in 2013 of issues related to her own addiction, he fell hard into a severe depression. I still don't know all the details of the last couple years of his life, and probably never will, but I know he found heroin at some point. In November of 2014, my sister and I led an intervention with him after finding evidence of his heroin use in his apartment and he vowed to get clean. And he did. He was clean for a few months. The last time I saw him was on his birthday, January 27, 2015, and he looked brighter and healthier than he had in years. Unfortunately, he relapsed in early February around the anniversary of his wife's death. Looking for an escape, he found the heroin that would end his life.

I do have the joy of them not being addicts. I know they tried it a few times, but it was just recreational. The final time they did it it just took their lives. I feel better knowing it took them cause I don't think I could have handled them being addicts.

Josh worked a strong program in recovery but battled addiction for many years. He was clean for nineteen months. In a breif moment of weakness the disease snuck in and took him from us. He is proof that the disease of addiction is cunning, baffling, and powerful.

Throughout his shortened journey his fearless and passionate personality seemed to drive him to excel but that drive also steered him towards making a lot of bad decisions that involved experimenting with alcohol and drugs at a young age. His struggles with substance use disorder and recovery attempts included residential treatment for the diagnoses of bipolar. Josh’s addiction to opiates, and subsequently heroin, did not become evident until he had experienced a near fatal overdose in December of 2013. For the next 4 months we remained vigilant, supportive, and hopeful that his attempts at treatment and recovery would be successful but he lost the battle.

Josh was fighting his addiction in private.

Josh suffered from this disease tremendously and for 2 years he was never the same person. The disease became a devil inside of him and he tried desperately to stop it. Every day with this addiction was a constant battle for him. Rehabs, counselors, drugs, medicine: none of it seemed to work and Josh felt helpless and hopeless under the power of this deadly disease.

Joseph was the type of kid that would never do drugs in high. When he was about 24 I lost my dad to this disease and that's where it started. He tried and tired to recover from this disease and on Jan. 15 2014 God called him home. He lost the war.it was truly one of the worse days of my life.

Jose began using when he first went away to college. After a few terrible accidents and spending some time in rehab, he decided to move to Indianapolis to start fresh. Music was his escape. But as one might imagine, shows and nightclubs in the city are painted with temptation of all colors. Many people drink at concerts and events, and Jose was always involved in the party in some shape or form, but he was always smart, safe, and responsible. He constantly told his friends how proud he was of the fact that he had been clean for so long, and we were proud and grateful as well. He loved unconditionally and whole-heartedly all of his days, and he spread his love and gave his heart so openly, that he did not keep any for himself. Jose’s heart was breaking, but he never let it show. One day the pain became too heavy for him to carry alone, and he relapsed one fateful night and ended his life.

Jonathon's struggle began in high school with experimentation of prescription drugs. By the time he was a senior, the school had an epidemic on their hands with the proliferation of prescription drugs. Kids were stealing their parents medications and passing them out at school like M&M's. Most of the time, they didn't even know what they were taking and the risks involved with mixing various pills. Towards the end of his senior year, his experimentation transitioned to cocaine, and shortly after graduation, Meth entered the scene. At first he believed that he could be a 'recreational' user and control his use, but soon it had a grasp on him that he could not break free from. Towards the end, he truly wanted to get clean, sober, and turn his life around. But he just ran out of time.

Jonathan used pot occasionally, but if he was doing anything else, our family was in aware of it.

He started with pot, alcohol and some painkillers when he was a teen. He mostly drank and smoked weed through his 20's. When he was around 30 he started abusing painkillers with friends. He was soon doing crack and heroin, mostly heroin. Once the addiction to heroin started he never stopped for more than a few weeks here and there. This went on for six years. He lost a high paying career, a nice apartment, a beautiful girlfriend and his dream car. He got to the point where he hated his life. He finally went for inpatient treatment and was feeling great but soon the boredom and depression sunk in and he relapsed. A week later he overdosed on Fentanyl and passed away.

Since age 13 with his first drink of alcohol and 14 with his first codein trip, dad began a lifelong struggle with addiction. Entering the U.S. military during Vietnam would introduce him to heroin and methamphetamine. He sobered up from the alcohol in 1984, the year after I was born, and the year before his other son, John, came into this life. However he continued to seek out the new form of abuse: opiates and benzodiazepines through pill form, often Doctor shopping for his various pill needs.