Hi, my name is tara gregory. I am 23 and God has blessed me with 8 months sober. My story starts back in 2007 when i was a junior in high school. I had lost my mom to a heart attack 4 yrs prior, just gave birth to my son, was in a terrible relationship, and had a very unconforting home life. I used to say she (herion) showed up in the nic of time bc i was on the verge of suicide. If it werent for dope i wouldnt be here. If only i knew the consquenes that came with that statement. I started off using as a careless rookie in the game does,.paying mind to the advice to stop from others. I gave 7 years of my life to herion. I let it take more than i even had. I gave her everything i could, but on the night of march 7th 2011 she tried to take my life. It was lioe any other nite, i was needing a fix and homeless. So i took a guy( tht i knew previous n knew not to mess with) up on his offer to let me stay at a trailer that he owned. Well when i got up there he wouldnt let me leave. I was locked inside a camper,tortured,beat,and raped for 4 weeks. I was 21 years old. I accepted death bc of.the needle. I realized i had so much i wanted to do in life and so many relationships i wanted to fix. Bc of an addicts lifestyle bouncing around place to place not one person came looking for me. But u know who was sitting right there, that damn needle n dope, no she didnt leave. And finally i realized she wasnt my friend she had beaten me until i was nothing. Bc of drugs a 62 yrold demented pervert was going to take my.life from me. And i cried, i bawled, i screamed and it was that moment that i realized i was crying bc i didnt wanna die so i knew sumwhere deep down i still loved myself n i was got.fight for my life. I jumped out of his car april 14 going down a freeway and i ran for me. I didnt run for drugs, i ran bc i love myself n respect myself. I ran bc i wanted to LIVE !!! And ive been living ever sense. I learned a valueable lesson. In order for an addict to quit, they need to find love for themselves and forgiveness.