REPRESENTING MY DAUGHTER
"Raye of Sunshine Foundation" in support of families affected by ADDICTION that feel shunned, uneducated and judged for LOVING instead of WALKING AWAY!
Tammy is my name, I am a:
Daughter
Neice
Friend
Mother
Granddaughter
Girlfriend
Cousin
Aquantaince
And individual
Directly and indirectly
For every moment I can REMEMBER, thought my LIFE.
Daughter: Born to an addicted father and a mother whom suffered a brain injury from a car accident in 1965!
She was told THAT she could never give birth or have children due to the extensive damages to her insides.
On top of the many prescribed medications she was taking during her pregnancy, this had always been a worry I would make it or how it would AFFECT me, thought my LIFE.
Dad was an orphan, losing his mother from cancer at a very young age, with a father lost into alcohol and gambling that became my father's OWN coping skills for the majority of his days.
Neice: In memory of my Uncle David that suffered from crack cocaine that also, affected my cousins, aunts and family until we watched him literally, die and waste away.
Friend: growing up in the 70' and 80's drugs and alcohol JUST became a routine and an experience that NEVER fully went away. It was my crutch, my solution to the confusion and pain that I suffered growing up without my Mommy and Daddy AFTER my sister and I were taken from our home on THAT unforgettable day.
MOTHER: As a mother addiction has attacked, STOLEN, cheated, and broken every dream that I have ever had MAKING SURE MY CHILDREN WOULD NEVER struggle nor endure the devastation that addiction can take or make you suffer FROM over and over each day and WITH no support from the very one's that you thought WOULD NEVER judge, distrust you or stamp you with UTTER SHAME!
BECAUSE that's what stigma is everyone! Nothing but guilt and PUSHING OR FINDING BLAME!
Granddaughter: From the earliest I can recall. I watched my grandmother drink her insides away!
Girlfriend: What's wrong with a few cocaine lines? A little marijuana or a fifth of Jim Beam?
Acquaintance or should we Say STIGMA CLOSET IDIOTS! ADMIT YOUR SHIT! STOP trying to ignore the movie being made in FRONT of your gullible face! You're a pill-popping mother ALSO, regardless of YOUR need to SAVE FACE AND DISGEACE!
OR your a young adult struggling BECAUSE of opiates, heroin, cocaine, fentanyl and whatever are making you numb but will NEVER be YOUR saving grace!
Cousin: I watched crack take my cousins lives into a extreme after my Uncle introduced it to them at a very young age!
TODAY I am 45 years old and ADDICTION HAS TRIED TAKING AWAY FROM MY LIFE, NOT ONLY my daughter but my own self to the POINT I lost my hair, my career, my friends and relationships to an extreme of devastation I am STILL fighting to talk about & accept.
ADDICTION took everything away I ever knew to be "normal" because NOTHING is really normal WHEN the devil is constantly fighting to spit in YOUR face!
The weak walk away from you
The Strong will be "hopefully" here representing the pain it causes on this run FOR my daughter fighting OPIATES AND ADDICTION FOR THE WORST YEAR'S OF MY LIFE I WILL NEVER BE ASHAMED TO SAY.
MADE ME INTO THE "NEW WOMEN" I AM PROUD TO TALK ABOUT AND WALK FOR IN THIS 5K!!
HERE'S TO NO SHAME
HERE'S TO LOVING DEEP
HERE'S TO NEVER GIVING UP
HERE'S TO NOT. BEING GOD OR THINKING YOU CAN CONTROL ANYONE'S FINAL JUDGEMENT DAY!
HERE'S TO NOT HIDING!
HERE'S TO TAKING AND SHARING YOUR STORY!
HERE'S TO NEVER EVER EVER WALKING AWAY FROM A LOVED ONE OR FRIEND BECAUSE ADDICTION MAY AFFECT YOUR GAME!
HERE'S TO HOPE, PEACE & KICKING THE SHIT OUT OF THE DEVIL OR ANYONE THAT DISRESPECTS YOU OR YOUR STORY!
HERE'S TO LOVING YOURSELF FIRST BEFORE ANYONE ELSE!
HERE'S TO BRIG STRONG AND NOT A ENABLER!
HERE'S TO LEARNING TO TURN OFF YOUR EMOTION WHEN FIGHTING THIS DEVIL!
HERE'S TO ALWAYS REACHING OUT WITHOUT FEAR!
HERE'S TOO EVERYONE AND ANYONE AFFECTED BY ADDICTION, THAT SUPPORTS THE FIGHT TO CONQUER IT WITH BALASISE NOT FEAR!
HERE'S TO MY TEAM, MY SUNSHINE AND MY GUIDE THAT MOLDED ME INTO WHO I AM TODAY.
A PROUD MOTHER OF A BEAUTIFUL SOUL THAT "SPIT" INTO THE DEVIL'S FACE! ACCOMPLISHING EVERYTHING SHE DOUBTED WHILE UNDER EVILNESS AND DISMAY!
SHE IS MY DAUGHTER, HER NAME IS Kayla Raye!
She's why I talk about ADDICTION and why I want to make a difference, to help another parent as myself that feels helpless, judged and damaged from the trauma ADDICTION can cause everyone and anyone willing to stand strong and not RUN AWAY!
To my daughter, Kayla Raye, you're my inspiration, my 💘 and my REASON to NEVER JUDGE OR ACCUSE AND TO ALWAYS BELIEVE THAT GOD WILL ALWAYS .....BRING US THROUGH.