Cassandra grew up in a household that was torn apart by drug and alcohol abuse.
Her mother struggled with cocaine addiction and her father battled alcoholism.
As the baby of eight children, Cassandra was often left in the care of her older siblings. Addiction continued to take its toll on the family and her older siblings left the household. Her parents eventually divorced. Custody battles ensued as Cassandra’s father tried to shield her from her mother’s addiction. In the end, Cassandra was left torn between two parents that she loved and struggling herself with codependency, anxiety, and depression.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that my parents loved us, but mom just struggled with her addiction so much. There were times when I would go stay at halfway houses with her, and I remember going to AA and NA meetings all the time with her.”
When Cassandra was 15, her mother passed away in a car accident. Cassandra did her best to cope with this loss and find meaning in life.
Over the next three years, Cassandra would give birth to her first child, get married, purchase a home with her husband, and begin what she thought would be her new life. But unfortunately, after her second child’s birth, recreational alcohol and marijuana use became the gateway that led Cassandra into her own battle with cocaine addiction. Sadly, addiction and mental health issues quickly led to Cassandra’s own divorce. Tangled in abusive relationships and still bound by addiction and codependency, Cassandra turned to the comradery of a local motorcycle club for support. It was there that she tried methamphetamine. This drug took over her entire life. Over the next 5 years Cassandra lost everything. At this lowest point in her life, she finally reached out for help.
“My 7-year-old son told me that all I did was sleep and that he never saw me anymore. His words made me remember what my mom had put us through. Knowing I needed to go to rehab was scary for me. I remembered going to visit my mom and what it felt like being really confused. My son was getting to be the same age that I was when all that was going on and that was my breaking point. Losing everything was enough…I knew there had to be more to life than that.”
Cassandra was only able to find help because faithful PAATC donors took action and gave generously to make a new life available for her. When she entered the women’s program, she was amazed by what she saw.
“I was in the program for a little over a month. I remember seeing the girls in the house had a light. I wanted that light so bad. They just loved each other, and they had so much joy. I would look at them and wonder about how they were sitting in rehab and still so happy. I didn’t understand… It was God.”
On December 19, 2021, Cassandra found freedom through a relationship with Jesus Christ. On that day, God made all things new for Cassandra. An amazing process of healing, restoration, and growth began.
“Since then, perseverance has been a big thing for me. I became serious about asking God to guide me and about growing closer to him. I no longer feel lonely because of the relationship that I have built with him. And I have joy and just remember, even in the hard times, that this is just a season or just a bad day. I praise God through those hard times knowing that he’s been so faithful. Looking back to a year ago, I was 100 pounds, and it was scary. But now, knowing how much my life has changed in the last 10 months is amazing.”
Thank you for the pivotal role that you have played in Cassandra’s story. Each time you take action to support PAATC you are reaching out and making new life possible for someone in need. Please give today. There are many souls just like Cassandra that are crying out for freedom. We need your help today to bring wholeness to the hopeless.
Tens of thousands of people need the kind of help that you can provide. They are lost and unsure how to pull themselves out of the despair they find themselves in.
Your gift today can make all the difference in the life of someone ready to make a change. You will do more than give them temporary relief, you’ll help transform their life.
