For over 32 years I was a full-time USA Age Group & Collegiate Diving Coach. I also was a single mother of 4 boys who I love more than anything in the world. Juggling my job & caring for my boys was a challenge in itself. I have recently experienced firsthand tragedies & great loss from the epidemic that faces our nation today. Nothing could prepare me to lose my youngest son Clayton when he was only 23 years old. My family also suffered the loss, of my brother Gary’s 2 daughters (Nicole; Age 33 & Jennifer; Age 32) shortly thereafter. They all had one thing in common. They all became a part of the national statistical loss from the opioid epidemic. Right around that same time, my second youngest son was also suffering from addiction, which I truly believe evolved from an injury he suffered at work. It is important to note that I am a person who suffers from chronic pain from a sports injury in my youth when I broke my neck. With having multiple surgeries to prevent paralysis over the years, I became part of what I call, “The Big-Pharma push” after my last surgery in 2004. I was gradually over prescribed pain medication over the years by doctors I put my faith in. Putting all of that together it was like being in a perfect storm of survival. So, now with death knocking on my second youngest son’s door, not only from his own addiction but also from how he was trying to feed that addiction. I made a bad choice. Out of my own grief & foggy perceptions I made a desperate decision I felt I had to make to save my second youngest son’s life. In my mind at that time, I felt I failed to save my first son even though I know I tried to do everything I knew I could at the time. So, I tried to save my second youngest son from very bad people & that cost me everything. We both landed in prison. Someplace I never thought I would ever have to experience in my lifetime. I was just a mother trying to save her son. Yes, it was like a perfect storm. But what it really was is I found myself living in a Nightmare that seemed to have no ending & was way out of my control. Looking back through my now sober eyes. I can say after losing my youngest son, I realize that my life will never be the same again, & only Jesus can heal my heart & I am in process. My testimony propelled me to help those who find their lives are being turned upside down & changed forever by this epidemic. It also has inspired me to write a book about my testimony called, “Don’t you know Me?” which I’m still working on. So, what else could I do to make a difference? I have done inner healing & continue to do so, yet I felt that I had to do something to turn this bad into good. My passion & my faith run deep. So, first I went back to College & educated myself on what it takes to become an Alcohol & Drug Counselor, which I have completed. During that time God gave me a vision. And that vision is the website I have designed called https://www.addictionresourcesonline.com where I compiled the resources that someone would need to help them find alternatives to drugs in an easy to navigate site, & God be willing beat their addiction, something that I didn’t have. This epidemic that plaques our country & the world needs a website like this, especially now. Please join me in the fight to Help Promote Better Health & Wellness for a Drug-Free World. 

 - Candace Gottlieb