Cora-Lee is a survivor.
Cora-Lee is rebuilding her life after decades of substance use.
As a child, she endured incredible abuse – from being thrown out a window as a baby, to being treated like a maid by her adoptive family when she was a teenager.
Cora-Lee never felt accepted, and never felt like she fit in.
With all of this turmoil and rejection, it was only a matter of time before she turned to drugs as a means to cope.
Cora-Lee started smoking marijuana when still in high school. But it wasn’t long before she was turning to stronger drugs, like crystal meth.
Her drug use took over so much of her life that Cora-Lee became homeless, moving in and out of shelters.
And one fateful night, Cora-Lee tried fentanyl for the first time.
“I was offered a drug, and I thought it looked like crack – I thought I knew what it was,” said Cora-Lee.
She overdosed that night and was brought back after three doses of Narcan.
“I was unconscious for a day, and I didn’t remember what happened,” said Cora-Lee. Even with this close scare, Cora-Lee soon found herself craving fentanyl again. That’s just how powerful fentanyl is – it can pull you back, even when it’s the last thing you want.
“I would use it to stop the shaking, the tremors that came with withdrawal,” said Cora-Lee.
But she started seeing the toll it was taking on her – and knew she couldn’t keep using drugs as a way to escape. Cora-Lee was ready to make a change.
Through House of Friendship’s Community Counselling program, Cora-Lee was able to quickly meet with an addiction counsellor and start making plans to change her substance use.
“It helped quite a bit,” said Cora-Lee. “Now I know the coping skills I need to help me in my areas of weakness.”
With this newfound stability, Cora-Lee has found long-term, affordable housing, and has started building a new life for herself.
And, as part of her healing journey, Cora-Lee is writing down her story, as a way of dealing with the trauma of those difficult years.
Thank you for walking alongside people like Cora-Lee and helping to reduce the stigma of addiction. Through your support, lives are changed for the better!
