How Do I Get My Wife Off Drugs?

Archive for January 16th, 2010

Chances are someone close to you such as your friend, mother, wife, sister or even yourself has been touched by breast cancer in one way or another. That’s why it is so important that we never give up fighting for a cure.

Finding a cure is not impossible, but it is definitely a long, hard battle. Raising funds for the technology for early diagnosis, treatments options, and breast cancer research is vital. Education and support to breast cancer patients is also crucial for survival. That’s why the Royal Canadian Mint has produced its second color circulation coin to help support the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

This special 25-cent piece coin entitled “Creating a Future Without Breast Cancer,” displays a colored pink ribbon in its center, with three additional silver ribbons around the border. As the Royal Canadian Mint says, this coin was created as “A tribute to courage [and] a symbol of Hope.” Thirty-million coins began their circulation in Canada on April 1, 2006.

The coins are being circulated across Canada, and Canadian shoppers could receive one as a pleasant surprise in their change at their local Shoppers Drug Mart. They can also be purchased directly from the Royal Canadian Mint’s website.

However, The Breast Site, an information portal on the topic of breast health and breast cancer decided to offer 1000 coins, one to every individual U.S. reader, who didn’t have access to the coins. On June 8, 2006 The Breast Site launched its Pink Ribbon Coin Promotion, offering the breast cancer coin to its U.S. readers for a limited time as a symbol of hope.

Well, I’m happy to announce that The Breast Site has officially sent out its 1000th pink ribbon coin! We’d like to thank every reader who filled out the online form to receive their very own free breast cancer coin. Only 1000 coins were available, so hopefully you were one of the lucky recipients who submitted your form before the 1000th coin was sent today.

Amie Cunningham, a writer for thebreastsite.com who also worked on the team that mailed out the Pink Ribbon coins says, “It was so great to see so many men and women of all ages taking advantage of this special opportunity! It’s too bad that there were only 1000 coins available, because there were many applicants who submitted after the last coin was sent.”

Editors at The Breast Site urge readers to continue to check back for other great promotions that the site plans to introduce in the future. Cunningham notes, “The very first Breast Site newsletter will be launched in the very near future.”

Substance abuse prevention speakers take the topic seriously, but sometimes I wonder just how many others do? I suppose as a substance abuse prevention speaker who knows the pain and torment personally from an experiential level, I am more apt to see the danger in substance abuse and drunk driving.

I grew up the son of a mother (a former high school cheerleader and honor graduate) who was an alcoholic and substance abuser. As a child I saw my beloved mother self-destruct and torment my grandparents as a result of alcoholism and using every drug imaginable. Ironically, my mother (a former drunk driver herself) was killed when crossing the road as a pedestrian when an 18 year-old drunk driver hit her – killing her on impact.

Dead on arrival, police awaited the return of the young drunk driver who left the scene of the accident. Upon returning, the police video (which I later painfully watched) showed the young man crying and screaming, “I can’t live with this on my mind!”

As a former lifeguard and fitness trainer I don’t drink alcohol to this day. Yet I don’t condemn those who do and kindly serve as the designated driver whenever anybody close to me drinks.

After a childhood of pain and hell as a result of substance abuse and drunk driving, I myself was hit and nearly killed in July 2008 by a drunk driver (a two-time DUI offender driving after her license was revoked). The 61 year-old lady barreling down the road in a large Chevy truck, driving drunk at 4:40PM on a Tuesday afternoon, hit my car repeatedly (completely totaling it and nearly killing me) without stopping, attempting to flee the scene of the accident, after which she hit and totaled a parked car before being arrested by police.

For nearly five months I drove numerous rental cars, while battling my insurance company to be financially compensated to purchase a replacement vehicle for my automobile totaled by the negligible drunk driver. Even worse I spent days and nights in hospitals and doctors’ offices receiving medical treatment after the accident for injuries, which still cause me pain and trouble to this day. The added stress and strain medically and financially also negatively affected my marriage, as logistically my wife and I shared the one vehicle the drunk driver totaled.

Personally encountering the crooked and fraudulent business practices of tow truck companies, medical professionals, insurance claims adjusters, and car salesmen added additional aggravation and suffering to my life at a time when I was most vulnerable.

Nevertheless I somehow persevered and battled through it all to stand tall, becoming a voice of conscience to substance abusers, drunk drivers, they who prey on victims of catastrophic accidents, and those suffering through seasons of tragedy turning their world upside down.

I guess God spared my life so I can speak to others.