Dr. Michael Finegan from Peninsula Mental Health sat down with Jimmy and Lisa and informed us about how heroin is a very addictive drug: http://www.delmarvalife.com/health/heroin-use-treatment/. He also explained to us that the face of heroin is changing because there are many mothers, fathers, athletes, and even older people who are heroin addicts.
Jessie and Sarah McCoy of Salisbury, Md. joined Jimmy and Lisa on DelmarvaLife to share their story and struggle with their addiction to heroin.
Sarah was in a car accident and the doctors prescribed her Oxycontin for injury. She was out of work, so her insurance was taken away when she lost her job. Sarah found out that heroin was a lot cheaper and started using it to address her pain.
Sarah said, “I started using the heroin, first to address just the physical pain and then found out that it took away all the pain. The emotional, the mental – all the feelings were gone.” Sarah was 24 years old when she started using heroin.
Jessie grew up in a home of addiction where both of his parents were drug addicts. His father died from a cocaine overdose when Jessie was only 10 years old. Jessie started using heroin at 11 years old.
Sarah said it started off as ‘fun’ and then became a part of their lives. “It takes a hold of your life,” Sarah says, ” You are no longer in control. You are a slave to it.”
Jessie told us the difference between snorting and injecting heroin. He said the quickness of injecting heroin is why many choose this method. “When you stick it in your vein, it’s on. Just like that,” Jessie said.
Their son watched them battle this addiction. Sarah said he watched them go through withdraw, hating each other, being sick, and the different attitudes that came about while they were using or not using. Sarah and Jessie also had a daughter while they were addicted to heroin. When she was born, she had to go through withdraw. And that still did not give Sarah and Jessie a ‘wake-up call.’
Sarah and Jessie shoplifted, went to jail and rehab, committed adultery and had other run-ins with the law during their addiction. Sarah said heroin takes the feelings from you to the point where you are emotionless. “I didn’t care about how he felt. I didn’t care about how the kids felt. I didn’t care about how anybody felt. I just didn’t want to feel,” Sarah said.
Sarah said one day she looked at Jessie and said, “This can’t be all there is.” Sarah said she wanted something, but she didn’t know what. However, she knew she didn’t want – heroin.
Sarah hit rock-bottom and decided to call an old friend to ask for her help. She wanted to join a women’s group and get connected. Sarah went to church and she surrendered it all to God and put her trust in him. However, Jessie didn’t follow her footsteps. He kept using heroin.
One day, Sarah and her friend Trina, asked Jessie to go to church. He agreed, but only to get them to stop pestering him about it. However, Jessie said one night at church, 3C in Delmar, Del., they were having a prayer. “I never believed in God. I used to curse God. How can there be a God with what I’ve been through,” Jessie said, “But that night, something touched me, and said ‘come on, come on down, it’s time.’ And after that night, I never looked back.”
“I’m not an addict. You can see me, that’s who I used to be. But be around me today and you’ll see, I hope you see Christ in me today,” Jessie said. “You’ve got to be connected with positive people. You’ve got to make change,” he said.
Jessie and Sarah said that their children can see a change in them and they are a strong, loving family.
We want to thank Jessie and Sarah for sharing their story with us. We have received a lot of feedback after this segment aired and because of their brave testimony, we may have even saved a few lives here on Delmarva.
