April was pregnant with her second child when her doctor prescribed her painkillers for back pain. What started with a legitimate prescription quickly progressed to dependency and addiction, leading her to invent reasons for more prescriptions. After four years of her doctor writing her prescriptions, her doctor said “you’re addicted” and cut her off cold turkey. "It got to the point where I was eating them like candy," April said, "and I was still going to the doctor for pills. I was getting 120 a month."
April turned to the streets, selling drugs in order to cover the costs of her habit. "It got to the point where I couldn’t get up for work or keep up with my kids and the house,” she said. DHS removed her three children from her custody. She lost her home soon after, spending years living in the streets, sleeping on a cardboard box, working as a prostitute, and robbing people. She was eventually jailed and suffered from the effects of withdrawn in jail on the floor of her cell.
When she was released from prison, April went to a recovery house where she spent one year as an inpatient and one year as an outpatient. Now she works, has a home, and has two of her three children back. She has supervised visits every Sunday with her son, who lives with his father. April writes about her experience, often speaking publicly about addiction and homelessness.