Melissa Marie Borras
2/19/1990 – 8/3/2015
She was an amazing daughter, incredible sister, loving aunt, and an awesome friend. Like many others her addiction started with prescription opiates that were prescribed to her. Her life was short but she left a mark in so many lives. She is missed tremendously. My heart goes out to everyone who’s lost a loved one to this epidemic and to those who are still trying to find their way through it.
People who become addicted to alcohol and other drugs are our sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, cousins, loved ones and friends. Individuals may struggle for many years to regain control of their lives. The Center for Prevention and Counseling (The Center) hosted a walk in memory of two young men from Sussex County who lost their struggle with addiction.
The purpose of this walk is to change how addiction and individuals who struggle with substance use disorders are perceived. One hundred percent of your donation will go directly to The Center to help those in need of services to aid them in their struggle with addiction. Donate to Team Borras
Written by Alicia Cook :
Drug Addiction is a family disease. It has such a large ripple effect, the collateral damage is immense, and what is hit the most and the hardest by its shrapnel are the loved ones.
Drug addiction causes parents to outlive their children. It causes jail time and homelessness. It causes sisters to mourn their siblings. It causes nieces to never meet their aunts. It causes you to miss someone standing right in front of you because there is an absence before the exit.
Drug addiction causes you to wonder if each unexpected phone call is “the” phone call. I know what it’s like to be hurt so badly and made so sick, a part of you wishes you would just get “the” phone call if nothing is going to change. You want that finality. You need the cycle to end. I know what it’s like to hate yourself for even allowing yourself to find relief in that horrible thought.
It causes the “yesterdays” to outnumber the “tomorrows.” It causes things to break; like the law, trust, and homes.
Drug addiction causes statistics to rise and knees to fall, as praying seems like the only thing left to do sometimes.
I used to hear “you can’t let it get to you like this,” or “just cut them out.” Just cut them out — as if they were nothing more than a one dimensional character on a poorly written crime drama. I am met with sympathy now, but more so, sadly, I am met with complete and utter understanding from people who can directly identify with my situation.
As more and more families are affected by addiction, I hear less and less from the peanut galleries. Perhaps they are too busy still thinking it could never happen to them. Or, more realistically, they are terrified that it can