ORANGE PARK, Fla. — It’s a deadly problem that affects millions of Americans every day. According to the CDC more than 80,000 Americans died from opioid abuse in 2021. 

However, there is hope for those who want help. An Orange Park woman wants to help those who are struggling by sharing her story of overcoming addiction.

“My rock bottom was I got a brand new car and slammed it right into the wall on Normandy at like 130 miles per hour,” recalled Melissa Christian.

That was in 2020 and that accident was the final straw after 5 years of drug addiction for Christian. She was originally prescribed pain pills after being hit by a semitruck in 2015.

“Something that has your name on it, you think it’s legal,” said Christian, “it’s ok and you’re not doing anything wrong and before you know it I’m strung out and addicted.”

When prescriptions ran out Christian would buy drugs on the street and spend her last dollar on pills instead of her children.

“There’s not a normal day,” said Christian, “the medicine that’s supposed to make you feel better makes you feel worse and you need it just to function, to wake up in the morning. You have to have it to get going, your whole life revolves around it, it sucks the soul out of you, the life out of you, who you are as a person. I couldn’t quit on my own, I tried, I’d make it a couple days here, a couple weeks there, but I couldn’t, it had me, the grip was too tight.”

Christian was Baker Acted following the car crash in 2020 and then checked herself in to River Region on her daughter’s 12th birthday in hopes of receiving help to break her addiction.

River Region has served the Jacksonville community for 50 years. CEO Dr. Jacqueline Dowdy said that her organization works with partners in the healthcare community to find the best care possible for its clients.

“We do provide mental health services for those who are dealing with cooccurring disorders,” said Dowdy, “We’re finding more and more of those mental health clients are increasing and coming through our doors and some come in with a substance use issue and there’s also a mental health issue.”

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“River Region gave me the tools I needed to get my head straight,” said Christian.

Now, almost 2 years sober, Melissa Christian gave birth to her 3rd child and is more present in her children’s lives and more engaged at work as an esthetician. She also has a message for anyone currently struggling with addiction.

“It all starts with a choice, I make the same choice every single day,” said Christian, “I get up and decide I’m not going back to what broke me, I will not. You have to keep showing up and do the right thing and it gets easier every single day to the point that I don’t even think about it.”

And now she’s an example of how to climb out of the grips of addiction.

If you would like more information about River Region, a link to their website is here.

To find confidential free help from public health agencies or to find substance use treatment and information you can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration hotline: 1-800-662-4357.

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