Hi, I’m Brenda, and I never thought I’d be here.

I never thought I’d write on a website about navigating the nightmare of addiction. But some things can radically change the trajectory of where you’d planned to go in life. 

I had no plans to go in this direction - one I didn’t even know was an option. I planned to continue in my successful career in advertising, watch my kids finish high school, go to amazing colleges, find their purpose in a career, and eventually do the retirement and grandma thing. It sounded pretty simple and comfortably normal.

but that wasn’t to be my story.

I was an advertising executive, suburban mom, wife, sister, daughter, volunteer, and all that. Then my family and I were introduced to a world that, until six years ago, I had only seen in movies - an ugly and dangerous world filled with fear, anxiety, desperation, and loneliness. We were inaugurated to the dark and destructive world of addiction through my then 15-year-old son, who was enticed by the allure and kidnapped by its venom.

When my son veered off the traditional, healthy, young-adult path of “growing up” and started a long and treacherous descent into substances and a high-risk lifestyle, my predictable story went with him. Along with my sleep, sanity, self-image, and overall health - obliterated by five years of unrelenting fear and anxiety that prevented me from living my life. 

Our journey covered a lot of ground, more than I care to recount in great detail, because the pain is still real. It almost ended in a low-lit ICU room with my son on life-support and the family gathered around. It almost ended like hundreds of thousands of others - yet it didn’t.

In the end, I was given a gift too precious to let sit on a shelf in the closet. My gift is so rare and coveted by other parents I was compelled to finally unwrap it and hold it up for the world to see - I have my son. 

I have the unbelievable privilege of seeing his healthy face on my phone as we talk about things like college and jobs. He teases me and I ask if he’s been to the dentist - moments that pass, mundane to other parents, invaluable treasures to us.

Today, I take the mountain of pain and lessons I learned along the way, infuse them with insights from my family and the life-saving professionals who helped us, and offer them to you as a small token of the gift I was given. It’s not always perfect, and I learn as I go, but it’s always from the heart, real, and meant to meet you wherever you are. 

Please take some time to explore Hopestream Community, a place that might make your experience more informed, less isolated, and less painful. I’ll see you there.