ENG121 English Composition

Use the techniques described in sections and of Essentials of College Writing and expand upon the prewriting done in the discussion forum for the past three weeks to provide specific details about the person, place, object, or event so that readers can visualize the subject and/or feel present in the story. Your description should be specific and appeal to the five senses. Please be sure to read and review the Example Personal Essay Draft document before beginning your draft for more guidance on writing a descriptive essay.

Answer

What Doesn’t Kill You makes You Stronger: My Encounter with Drug Addiction

Life has surprised us in one way or another. I was caught off-guard by my sister’s drug addiction. “We always hang out together, how could I have missed this?” I asked myself. Joan was cheerful, bubbly, and full of life. It wasn’t until her sixteenth birthday that she changed completely. She became reserved. Everyone dismissed this sudden change as maturity. Like everyone else, I went along with the maturity narrative.   

I remember it was on a Friday night and our parents were out for a movie. There was a strange smell all over the house. I searched for the source and traced it to Joan’s bedroom. I burst into her room without knocking, and what I saw changed my life forever. Joan had been smoking what I came to learn later was marijuana. The stool next to her bed had all sorts of white powders. All these were later discovered to be cocaine and heroin. Joan did not move. I touched her face and hands, and they were cold. I shook her body and got no response. I quickly called 911 and then my parents.

The ambulance together with a few police officers arrived in no time. Efforts to resuscitate Joan proved to be futile. She was quickly lifted into the ambulance. My parent quickly jumped in, and they were off to the hospital. Everything came to a standstill.  I could hardly breathe. My once blissful life had turned into a nightmare. I watched as the ambulance drove off with my parents and only sister in it. My father finally called and informed me that Joan had overdosed and that she was fighting for her life. I went to the ICU unit every morning and prayed beside Joan.

I watched as my parents tore into each other. The blame game, the bitterness, and the confusion were manifested through their words. I went to my then high school counselor and had a session with her.  The weight in my chest became light. I invited her to have a talk with my parents. Three weeks later, Joan was discharged from the hospital. We welcomed Joan with a huge party with messages of love from close family and friends. We knew that we had to give her time before initiating the intervention. Two days later, we sort the help of a drug addiction expert and our high school counselor. After a series of sessions, it was discovered that Joan had been sexually assaulted by a senior in high school.

This discovery was a mark of progress. The drug addiction expert recommended that Joan needed to be in a rehabilitation facility. She would see a psychologist as part of the healing process. We all needed healing. Two months later, the broken pieces started to fall into place. Joan recovered tremendously. She continued with therapy for three more months. Joan was ready to face her abuser. She testified against him in court together with other victims of the same man. He was found guilty and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment.

At the end of that year, Joan could speak freely about her ordeal without fear or embarrassment. She became the school’s head of the peer counseling department. This ordeal was an eye-opener for my family.  This ordeal changed my view of the world completely. I would hear of drug addiction stories and dismiss them as poor parenting until it happened to our family. I became more accommodative and less judgmental. Whenever I see a person struggling with addiction, I know what to do. I know how to handle the situation without causing further damage. Addiction is a disease and should be treated as such.