Mother's heartbreaking message for drug-addicted son
A mum has posted a heartbreaking message for her drug-addicted son.
Christy Cooper, of the US state of Nebraska, wrote on Facebook she was recently asked for an assignment to come to class dressed as her worst nightmare.
Ms Cooper realised she was living it.
“I got home at 10.30pm and when I walked in to the house I went to my son and told him about the assignment,” she wrote.
“He said, ‘What, am I your worst nightmare?’ I said, ‘No son, the drugs are. Will you dress me?’ He replied, ‘Yes’.”
Ms Cooper’s son went to his car and picked out a dirty jumper and jeans which hadn’t been washed.
“He said I could wear his pants that had a bloodstain on them from where he missed when he was shooting up,” she wrote.
“I instantly became sick to my stomach and wanted to throw up.
“This was my kind-hearted, compassionate, beautiful baby boy who was standing in front of me excited to dress me. He wanted me to try them on right then. I didn’t want to, but I did. I could not understand why the hell he was so excited to see me dressed in his clothes.”
Feeling ashamed and embarrassed
Ms Cooper was anxious when she showed for class the following day going straight to the bathroom.
She felt “ashamed” and “embarrassed”. The mum shared photos of her outfit - bloodstained jeans, a dirty jumper and a bandaid across her cheek.
“I had so much anxiety I couldn’t breath,” she wrote.
“I was crying alone in the bathroom uncontrollably and trembling in my own skin.”
Ms Cooper didn’t want to go to class but was encouraged to by a colleague.
“In that very raw and vulnerable moment, I realised I just took a very brief walk in my son's shoes,” she wrote.
How addicts live every day
“This is how my son and every other addict lives every single day. Every. Single. Day.”
She added “drugs are destroying families” and “we have to do something”.
“I’m committed to being kind and extending love to everyone,” she wrote.
“I am committed to being a voice for our children that are turning to drugs and I pray you will join me.”
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Her post has since been more than 7,000 times. She added her son’s currently in rehab.
People offered sympathy for Ms Cooper and her son with some sharing stories of how drugs have affected their lives.
“I'm so sorry you have to go through this. It's a ride that seems never ending,” one woman wrote.
Another woman added she didn’t have the support of her mum but has been clean for 14 years.
“Thank you for still regarding your son as a loveable human,” she wrote.
Another shared her nephew’s story of his addiction to heroin.
“He stole from everyone, was homeless, and finally ended up in prison for two years. That saved his life,” she wrote.
She added her nephew is now sober, clean and married and had a “happy ending”.
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