Addicted to Drugs: A Little Brother’s Story – 2011
My Addicted Sister
Hi, I’m Rae’s little brother. Being addicted to drugs can affect family members as much as it affects the addict. I am so proud of my sister. I am only twelve years old, but a loved one’s addiction problem affected me just as much as anyone else.I was very shocked when I found out I had a sister that was addicted to drugs. I always knew my sister was drinking alcohol a little, but I never knew how much and never thought much about it.
Rae and I would watch the show Intervention together. I just thought she liked the show. I never thought she would be addicted to drugs like the people on that show. However, when my sister was sent to rehab to get help with addiction, I found out that she had been abusing drugs as well. I still do not know all of the details and I almost hope I never do. Ever since then, I think I have still been in shock, even though it has been almost two years now. Although I knew and realized she was an addict, I was not fully understanding addiction. I knew that people with addictions go through a lot and they never get to stop fighting for their lives, but it didn’t faze me all that much – until a couple of days ago.
My Sister Was Addicted to Drugs
I also help out with my Sister’s addiction website a little. I was working on this website and I was reading some of the pages while I worked. After I was done reading and working, I think it finally hit me. I realized just how much my sister went through. I thought how proud of her I was for fighting and fighting for her life for the past two years. I now understand that my sister could have lost her life millions of times from a drug overdose. I used to not really make that big of a deal about it, but now I understand. If she hadn’t stopped or she had done more than usual, I could have lost her forever. For years, I remember my sister as a type of second mom. My sister has always been there for me and I remember all the fun times we had. I sometimes wished that I had been able to be there for her.
Sometimes I wish we had known about my sister’s addiction and we could have helped and I am thankful we found out when we did before it was too late. But other times, I think that many other families have it much worse than we did.
If you watch the show Intervention, then you know that those families see their children use and drink and do drugs and have to live with it until the intervention. I did not have to watch my sister deteriorate. I don’t think I could have survived it.
As it is, it pains me to think that all those fun times we had when she would play games with me, she was always hiding her pain. I wish she knew back then that she did not have to hide her sadness and fake a smile, that we could have helped her, because I know that my family would have understood back then and tried their hardest to help her when she was addicted to drugs.
I loved and still do love my sister so much. I am glad that she got the help that she needed and that we can be truly happy as a family again. Of course I understand that she is still going through a lot now and may be sad sometimes, but I know if you ask her, she will say that her life is much better sober than when she was addicted to drugs and alcohol.