11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yes, Virginia, Drug Addiction Can Happen To You or Anyone Else, December 10, 2006
This review is from: I Am Your Disease: The Many Faces of Addiction (Paperback)
I Am Your Disease is a book structured as a series of vignettes, yet, with a twist. Each story is was authored by the loved one(s) of a person who died of a drug overdose. Some of the pieces are longer than others, but almost inevitably, the resounding common thread was that of the parents left stunned saying, "I never thought it would/could happen to my child".
Most of the children featured were of above average intelligence, very creative and particularly sensitive. And most had above average good-looks. They were raised by committed, loving parents, some highly educated. How could this possibly be a recipe for an early demise due to drug abuse?
Actually, there does not seem to be a pattern. What is so terrifying is that there seems to be no social class, background, or educational deficiencies that could explain or predict who becomes addicted. Sometimes early intervention may have prevented the spiral toward progressively harmful drugs, but other times it seemed to make little difference.
What is presented in I Am Your Disease are the facts and perceptions of the families most affected by drug abuse and the hideous aftermath of life after losing a child to addiction. It is a must read for every parent.
Eventually your child will be confronted with an opportunity to participate in drug abuse. How they are prepared for these confrontations can be a life or death decision. As a parent, I for one want to ensure that my child is as well prepared to go onto the battlefield of peer pressure as well equipped as I can possibly prepare him. Don't you want your child prepared? Read the book and discuss it with your children. If they are old enough, give it to them to read for themselves after you've completed it. Give out kids a fighting chance for survival.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a real "MUST HAVE" book for anyone in contact with young people, November 30, 2006
This review is from: I Am Your Disease: The Many Faces of Addiction (Paperback)
This book is powerful and eye-opening. Truly, it is a "must have" for ANYONE who might EVER come into contact with a drug-addicted individual or their distraught families. That would include EVERY parent, EVERY doctor, EVERY minister, EVERY counselor, EVERY teacher, EVERY nurse, EVERY school nurse, and EVERY police officer, etc.
As one of the grieving moms who contributed my story to this book, I honestly feel that it should also be REQUIRED READING for every 5th or 6th grade student in our country, as well as world-wide.
But, it should also be REQUIRED reading for every police officer, teacher, counselor, doctor, nurse and minister, for these are the people most likely to form the "first line of defense" against addictive illnesses. For they are the ones most likely to see addictive illnesses when they are just beginning. And, with the incredible insight gained from reading this book, they just might be able to intervene before the lure of drugs to a young person becomes deadly.
If it were within my means, I would personally buy & donate a copy of this book to every parent in this country, which should include many people who, besides being parents, work in fields that deal with our young people. If I were to win the lottery tomorrow, that is what I would do with my winnings, for I feel that this book is THAT important.
Sherry's compilation of stories really highlights how universal our epidemic of drug addiction has become - it crosses ALL boundaries and NO ONE is "immune" to it. Unfortunately, until it hits our own family, that is what we all think. WRONG! Read the book and you will see.
I LOVE the way this book begins - "Could this be YOUR child?" No! No way! That is EXACTLY what all of us had thought! Our kids were too loved, too smart, too athletic, too beautiful, too talented, etc., etc. We ALL thought that.
Well, guess what? When you read this book the one thing that I can just about GUARANTEE you is that you will come away with the realization that this can happen to ANYONE, for our stories are all different. We came from all different places, all different situations, all different backgrounds. Yet, still, it happened to us, despite our convictions that this could NEVER happen to "our" kids! But, it did.
One of the common themes that comes across in the assorted stories is our desire, as parents who lost children to drugs, to keep our children's memories alive and to honor them by trying to spare other parents the unspeakable and unbearable pain that all of us now suffer. For, if we can prevent that, perhaps our children's' deaths will not have been in vain.
I, for one, have been going into area schools and presenting the stories of the many young people from our area, who have been lost to drugs. Invariably, there will be kids who need tissues or who need to be escorted away to see a counselor.
Even though it is not my goal to bring pain or suffering to any student, I do believe that reaching the hearts and the emotions of our young people when it comes to the issue of drug experimentation, is VERY important.
There are all kinds of hard, cold "statistics" out there, there are scare tactics showing graphic images of drug addicted or dead people. While I cannot guarantee what approach works best, I do tend to believe that involving the hearts and the emotions may well be our best defense against losing even more of our next generation than we already have.
This book does that in spades. Please! If you have ANY CONTACT with young people, whatsoever, regardless of HOW, BUY this book, read it, and share it. Tell others about it.
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