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

Nick struggled with his addiction because he always felt he could fix it on his own. He always had an alternative plan that he thought would get him through to the next week or month. He went to rehab, both in patient and out patient, always returning home with a new and positive attitude. He saw counselors, was prescribed medications and attended NA meetings. Nothing seemed to improve his underlying problem of low self esteem. At the end of the day it was such a paradox that someone who was loved so much by so many, could not find the love within to save himself. He desperately wanted to conquer this disease and return to the life he led before his addiction. He was always so apologetic. He frequently expressed his love and appreciation for all we had done for him. But each time he took 5 steps forward something would happen and he would end up taking 10 steps backward. Its such a tragedy that through all of our efforts as a family we were unable to save our son.

Nick was troubled from early childhood. My boys are almost 10 years apart so of course when my older son became a teenager Nick wanted to be like him. I had it rough had my first child at 20 had to finish school get a job and take care of a baby. I did that but when Nick came things changed I didn't do all the first things MOMMIES do when your first child came along I didn't do the pic thing or the vacation thing I just went to work and that was it. But Nick struggled with being the younger sibling he wanted to be like his older brother. So he started acting out skipping school finding ways to get in trouble. Stealing cars, breaking into houses you name it my son did it. Being in Jail numerous times and rehab early did not matter he just wanted to come home. Kids Escaping Drugs helped out a lot he did the program and graduated he took his GED and scored very high. But he met a girl and she gave him drugs after being clean for more than one year and he overdosed. She is now in jail and when she gets out I am going to beat her ass cuz she will be of age. I know I am angry but I am so dam mad.

He started using when his mom passed away when. He was about 14 or 15 --he took it very hard. He was never the same since. He was clean on and off and deep down wanted be clean and stay clean, but it was all just too much for him especially losing his mom at young age I met him in July of 2015 and we had been inseparable ever since. He was my everything, my heart and soul and I will forever miss him.

Mitch became addicted to prescriptions meds while in high school and then it eventually led to heroin use. He was always secretive about his addiction and was able to hide and fool us for a very long time. He could never admit that he had a problem, even when confronted. He suffered with mental illness and a low self-esteem. There is no doubt that his drug use helped calm his inner demons and pain. During the last year of his life he was incarcerated. He shared with me that he didn't want to be the way he was, or do the things that he had done to land him in the jail to begin with. He said he knew the things that he done were wrong, but could not help himself, could not stop himself, and he did not know why he was this way. This broke my heart to hear his words. He was greatly suffering from within.

Mike struggled for 15 years. Two weeks before he died he said, "Mom if I ever overdose, I'm sorry." He worked so hard but said the demons were stronger. He was a tortured soul."

Michael tried drinking at the age of 15 and very quickly it became obvious he had a problem. Everything he did with alcohol or drugs was always excessive. He went to inpatient treatment the first time at the age of 20. He spent the next 6 years having periods of sobriety and relapses. His longest sober time was 11 months. After that, the sober times became shorter and less frequent. He spent more time in treatment and in jail. He held down jobs for awhile and then would lose them. He continued to try to regain his sobriety, but he ran out of time on September 8, 2013 when he died from an overdose.

Mike was diagnosed bipolar at the age of 17 however the symptoms began very early in his life. It started with pot and escalated to the pills that all his friends were taking. It seems to me that the drugs prescribed for ADD were speed and the children were selling them to each other.

His addiction was so fast. It took over his life and took his life in just a few years. It started with a sports injury and the lovely introduction of pain killers. It is the same heart breaking story over and over. He started smoking pot daily, all day. He did whatever it took to get money for the pain killers. Eventually he was introduced to heroin and the price was right. There was no going back after that. Snorting lead to shooting and that lead to a quick, insane death. He is now another statistic and the family is has a huge, irreplaceable hole.

Mike became dependent on opioids after a knee operation, but was prone to abuse, as his mother had died of an overdose a few years before. He was about to enter his third rehab when he went to a friend's house for 'one more party', but overdosed that night and never woke up.

In college he began using prescription drugs which eventually escalated to heroin. After almost 15 years fighting it he was finally turning his life around. Relapsed one night and overdosed.

He struggled with drug addition since he was 14 years old. He started with pot and it grew from there. He went through rehab,a halfway house and even prison boot camp. At times he would do so good and really seem like he was going to make it, but something would happen that would throw him into depression again. It finally over took him and died 60 days ago tonight.

Mavin had an addication to herion. He fought his addication To herion for over 10 years. He hated the drug life. Tried many times to get clean but lost the battle.

As with most stories, it's hard to pinpoint when Mark's struggle began. Mark struggled with his health the entirety of his life - one issue after another. To sit down and really remember what all he had to deal with physically, is extremely heartbreaking. Knowing he had to tolerate so many physical issues daily, is exhausting, yet you would have never known just looking at him. Mark was pretty heavy into marijuanna in high school and a list of other typical drugs you'd see in his hometown. But, when we met he was an occasional drinker with a laundry list of medical conditions that led to a massive bowel surgery just 4 months before we met. Fast forward 2 years - Mark came to his mother and I, describing his feelings of addiction to his pain pills that he was being prescribed before during and after multiple bowel obstructions, another bowel surgery and an aneurysm correction/surgery. He immediately left for rehab after his confession. It was a relief to Mark's mother and I when he confessed because we knew he was acting differently but could have never imagined what Mark was struggling with. The next two years of our lives are such a whirlwind, it's hard to remember the order of events... Almost two years to the month that Mark came to his mother and I, to open up about his struggle, he died of a heroin overdose in a hotel room a mile from our home. Three rehabs, one intervention, tons of counseling (family and separate), hundreds of NA and Nar-Anon meetings, suboxone, guilt, bribing, loving, caring, talking, tough-love, begging, praying, threatening, and bargaining could not rid Mark of his addiction. He wanted to live a sober, long life with Maxwell, I and our families but heroin had a different plan for us all. There is still so much we don't understand about addiction but I do know this. I'm proud of my husband - I'm not ashamed or embarrassed, but he died full of shame, and guilt. This must change, our hearts must be opened.

After suffering with low self esteem in school, in his grade 12 year Lucas finally made friends and began making the wrong choices. We also lost our father that year, which sent Lucas on a downward spiral he couldn't get out of. No matter how hard he fought. Lucas struggled for years with OxyContin which eventually led to harsher street drugs. He had made the brave step of going to rehab, and was doing extremely well. After receiving Tylenol 3 from the dentist for having teeth extracted Lucas relapsed and within 7 days, he lost his life. Due to fentanyl.

Traumatized as a child, Lindsay started smoking pot & drinking in junior high as a way to numb her emotional pain. She was in and out of rehab for years, and chose relationships with addicted and abusive men which reinforced her belief that she had no value. She stayed clean for the longest period when she fought to regain custody of her daughter. Even so, she eventually became an IV opiate addict. Less than a week after completing yet another 30-day rehab, she overdosed on Fentanyl.

Lex was fighting his addiction for a long time, and I think often felt helpless to it. There weren't enough resources made available. It felt like to get quality care while not being financially privileged was impossible. People who could have helped him chose to judge him instead, because writing someone off as being "different" is easier than accepting that addiction can and does happen to any of us. It wasn't that he didn't want to quit, it was that he didn't know how and didn't know that happiness could be found in sobriety. There were so many options I wish I'd known about earlier, like naltrexone and a committed therapist, that I believe could have saved his life.

Leo was involved in sports and doing well in scholl. Leo started using Marijuana at the age of 15 years. Leo then started to have trouble in school with his schoolwork and he did not want to continue in school. Leo had issues with then Heroin as well as prescription opiates. Leo was like a Jekyl and Hyde on drugs and he was angry with outbursts more frequently, Leo denied that he needed help but he alwys said I know I have a problem but he would not let us take him for treatment , how many times he was driven to the hospital but would not go in. He did go for counseling when he was younger because he was angry but he would not tell anyone why. I feel Leo suffered from Depression. Leo had been clean 1 year before he relapsed and overdosed. leo had gotten into trouble the night before as he was setup by his friend. I can still remember his last phone call and he did not want to let anyone down. i reminded him how much we all loved him and would support him. I also told him that others would understand and help him. I said that he needed to be here for the boys. that was the last time I talked to him until the phone call the next morning that they could not wake him up for his community service job.

This is so hard for me to talk about.

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