After nine long years of struggles and personal tragedies, 26-year-old Dejah Hall has made a full recovering from being a “full blown” drug addict to now being a mother who is four years clean.
The downward spiral initially began when Hall was just 17 years old. She’d been out partying with a friend when she was first offered pain medication. “I took the pill for the first time,” Hall recalled, “and due to stress and issues at home it just went downhill from there.”
For the next three years, Hall gradually increased the number of drugs she took. It was only when Hall realized that she’d become reliant on six different pills to get through the day that she decided she wanted to quit.
But then one of her friend’s mothers died, and Hall had to skip three days of attending a methadone clinic, that would help her ease off her drug addiction, to support her friend.
Because of Hall’s absence, however, she got kicked out of the clinic and tried to quit cold turkey by herself. But it didn’t last long. “The withdrawals were horrendous,” Hall said, “and after eight days it became physically debilitating - I couldn't move my hands and it was crippling. I was constantly throwing up.”
Hall’s behavior – despite her best attempts to get her life back on track – had isolated her from her family at this point. She had no one to rely on.
So when a friend offered her heroin, Hall found herself caving to the urge.
“The addict side of me came out and I said I would just take one but one wasn't enough. By the second hit I fell in love with the high. It was numbing,” Hall remembered.
At the same time, though, Hall knew, “I was a monster in every way. I didn't care who I hurt - I didn't care about anything anymore. I didn't have anyone else or family to look to at that point.”
Hall’s dependence on heroin reached its peak from April 2012 to December of that year.
The turning point? When she paid a visit to her grandpa for his birthday.
“He sat there in his wheelchair and he told me that I was hurting him. I had been there for him very much before my addiction and after all the drugs I was more separated from him. This was one of my biggest mistakes,” she admitted.
After the visit that day, she went to the bathroom and cried, praying to God that she could be saved.
Later that day, Hall was arrested for possessing drugs. And exactly two weeks later, her grandpa passed away.
Hall knew that she had to keep her final promise to her grandpa – to stop taking drugs.
Now, in December 2016, Hall is proud to post on her Facebook photos of her before and after photos. She’s been clean for the past four years and has completely transformed from being a drug-addicted “monster,” to the mother of an 18-month-old daughter who is proud of how far she’s come.
Hall now hopes to provide support for others who are struggling through the same journey. “Don't give up if you are fighting for sobriety. There are avenues and outlets and it's so important to ask for help.”
