09/14/2018
We often hear about the tragedies of the he**in epidemic, but here is one close to home. With permission from Lexi's Mom, please read the story and then visit the web site for more information. We thank Susan Lamoureux for her story and dedication to the opioid epidemic......
Lexi’s Story
Please look at the pictures of Lexi. Is this the face you imagine when you hear the words “he**in addict”?
Alexa “Lexi” is my daughter. She was adored from the moment she was born to the moment she left this earth. She was inquisitive, playful and intelligent. She was kind and loving with a smile that lit up a conversation, lit up a room and warmed a heart. She had a passion for reading. Many of her books focused on spirituality, holistic living, and ways that she could find herself, and books where she could learn about the injustices in the world. Among her favorites: “The Secret”, “Gone with the Wind”, Victorian romances, and “The Bell Jar”. Alexa had an adoration for horses and spent time riding and caring for them. She cherished her Yorkies, her “little monkeys” Hudson and Sabine. She cared for them as a mother would care for her children. She meticulously groomed and endlessly loved upon them.
Alexa excelled in school from the very beginning. She was a consistent honor roll student in middle school and high school. She excelled in college earning her place on the Dean's List.
Tragically, she used he**in while living on her college campus. From that very first time the vicious cycle of addiction took hold immediately and Alexa would never be the same again.
It was heart wrenching for those of us who loved her and had to watch her suffer. We did everything we could think of and was recommended to us, desperate to help her in some way. We bestowed unconditional love, guidance, and encouragement upon her. She was willingly admitted to many rehabs and detoxes and gained strength from them. So many times she would start her life over with fierce determination and a renewed faith that this time she would stay free of he**in. During these months and years of sobriety, Alexa fought against the powerful hold of addiction with great courage and perseverance. She worked hard, attended classes, studied alternative therapies, and focused on holistic living eating only organic foods. She took herbs and vitamins, exercised, and prayed to God to keep her sober.
Inevitably, seemingly out of nowhere, despite all the positives in her life, the darkness would creep into Lexi’s mind again. It would take hold of her thoughts again, and it would suffocate her every dream and aspiration, yet again. Dreadfully, Lexi turned to the very drug that caused her such intense pain and heartache, desperate to escape for a time from her tortuous obsessions of guilt, shame, and disappointment for causing such anguish to the family she cherished so. Alexa described he**in as a "lonely drug that takes you away from every part of your life, robs you of who you are and leaves you hanging on the brink of death".
Alexa kept journals throughout her life with pages full of raw emotion, poetry, and delicate sketches. She was deeply sensitive and felt life intensely and expressed this through her words and drawings. The obsessions of self-loathing hijacked her mind every minute of every day whether she was actively using or living drug free. “I’m addicted”, she wrote. And it’s disgusting.”
Alexa died of an overdose of Fentanyl laced He**in on September 21, 2017 after being completely free of all drugs for seven months.
She was able to fulfill her wish expressed just one month before her overdose. Lexi gave the gift of life to two very special women. One, she gave her lungs and the other, she gave her liver.
I ask you to share my Lexi’s Story with your loved ones and friends for these reasons:
1. The horrible stigma that many people have of he**in addicts needs to be dispelled. Our daughter was beautiful inside and out, intelligent, educated, compassionate and well spoken. She was given every opportunity a child should have. We are hard working parents and have raised our three children with morals and values. We are not addicts. We are loving parents who have always given the best to our children. Alexa was not a "ju**ie", as some would say. She worked from the age of 16 and supported herself until her death. She was somebody. She was our beloved daughter. Her father and I will forever wonder if there was anything we could have done differently.
2. It only takes one time to become addicted to he**in. Alexa took he**in that first time having no idea the power it would have over her body and mind. She immediately became addicted. He**in is EVERYWHERE: in our neighborhoods, schools, college campuses, shopping malls. Please understand that YOUR child or YOUR loved one will likely be offered he**in at some point. They may think they can “try” it that one time and never use it again. I am here to explain to you this: if my precious daughter, who had the world at her feet and the love and support of her family, could become addicted from that first he**in use and then years later die from an overdose, then it can happen to YOUR child or loved one just as quickly and easily.
Please share my Lexi's Story and photos. Save someone from taking that first dose.
Adopt the slogan:
"NOT EVEN ONCE!”
Thank you-
Susan Lamoureux, Lexi’s Mom
www.learnfromlexi.org
