Former drug addict reveals how she escaped 'traumatic' life
A 25-year-old former meth and heroin addict has shared remarkable before and after photos detailing her recovery in just two years.
Jamee Valet is barely recognisable in a selfie photo she took in July 2017, where she appears gaunt and covered in scabs, compared to a recent graduation photo.
“The better looking version of me being just a few months ago when I got my GED! Ms Valet said on the Facebook page The Addict’s Diary.
“Recovery is possible!”
Ms Valet, from Oregon, US, revealed to Mail Online her journey through addiction was fuelled by a series of harrowing moments that left her life spiralling out of control.
Ms Valet began using drugs at the age of 15 after being introduced to opiates by her boyfriend at the time.
At 17, Ms Valet says she was raped by two men when heavily intoxicated.
“I was traumatised and depressed from the rapes, and the the first thing I did the day I walked out of the door was met up with some guy,” she said.
The man introduced Ms Valet to heroin and she quickly began using the drug excessively, admitting she “didn’t know limits”. It was around this time she also began using methamphetamines.
She resorted to theft to fund her habit, but this led to her arrest at 19.
Her crimes landed her behind bars, which prompted Ms Valet to try to take her own life.
Discovered by her cellmate, Ms Valet was in a coma for two days but survived.
She managed to stay clean for the following nine months but eventually relapsed. This time she was placed on a year-long inpatient program where she met her current boyfriend Jake.
They completed the course together and the couple believed they could start afresh together.
But after miscarrying their first child, their lives once again took a dark turn and Ms Valet again became hooked on drugs.
“I put my boyfriend through hell. I stole from him,” she revealed to Mail Online.
One day, sat in her car waiting for drugs, she took the image used on The Addict’s Diary.
Gaunt photo motivation to turn life around
It was at this moment, analysing the photo, she realised she needed to turn her life around for good.
After meeting Jake’s mother and opening up about her addiction, she was eventually on the road to recovery.
Her boyfriend’s mother proved to be the catalyst and helped nurse Ms Valet to health in just over three weeks before she was admitted to a three month inpatient program, which she described as one of the best.
Despite a small relapse after yet another miscarriage, Ms Valet has made progress with her life, notably obtaining GED qualifications – an alternative to the US high school diploma.
Ms Valet, who has aspirations of being an aesthetician, now wants to deliver a message to others suffering from addiction that there is hope.
“No matter how low how you're feeling or how your life is, it does get better. It is up to you to make it better, you can't be like ‘my life sucks’ and not do anything to change it,” she said.
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