Sookie10

I agree- I needed to see this yesterday also, the message of hope. A little backstory on me- I was diagnosed within aggressive form of breast cancer in 2010 at age 34. At the time my daughters were 9 and 1 and 1/2. 2 months after my diagnosis, while she was helping my husband care for me after my double mastectomy and first few rounds of chemo, my mother was also diagnosed with breast cancer. We actually say side by side in the infusion room and got my last few and her first few chemo treatments together. "HOPE" was all I had. Hope is powerful, and in my case it is never ending.
Hope is the reason why, after two years of no contact with my crack and heroin addicted brother, I joined this site yesterday for support and understanding, and why I have involved myself again in his life (after swearing not to anymore because the stress and pain and worry about his dying would affect my parents and my niece & nephews), and have reached out to local resources that can help him if he wants it. Hope lets me think maybe, after all this time (15 years of abusing drugs- he has been an addict his entire adult life), maybe he is NOT dead inside, maybe there IS my brother left in there, and not just the monster he became. And lastly, HOPE lets me believe that, even if (realistically this probably IS going to be the outcome), even if things don't change with him and he rejects help, or once again enters rehab and then leaves, continues using, goes back to jail or prison, it leads me to believe that my parents can and will be ok and stop defining their entire lives on "being the failure parents of a drug addict son" (I'm not saying this about them- this is their view of themselves and I hate that of all the wonderful things about my mom & dad- this is what their focus is on).
Thanks
-heather