How This Mum Turned Her Life Around For Her Girls

Melissa Matos, who has been in recovery since March 2016, has spoken of her battle with drugs which saw her lock herself in her blood-splattered room to get high.

Her addiction was so severe that her eldest daughter Katherine was forced to become the “mummy of the house” at just six years old.
Katherine, now 11, would bring her ‘sick’ mother food and rub her head not realising what was really wrong.

Speaking to Mirror Online, Ms Matos said her face was constantly covered in scabs and she would often be be in an induced coma on the floor.

The 40-year-old said her youngest daughter Elizabeth, now 9, doesn’t really remember what happened during her addiction years where she lost everything.

“But my oldest will talk about how it hurt her because I was always locked away in my room and I ignored her. How it was scary seeing me high,” she said.

“I spent most of my days either high or dopesick.”

The West Virginia woman said her children were in and out of care and all she could remember was her grim bedroom.

“My walls had blood splatters from trying to unclog needles. My bed sheets always had blood, and cigarette burn holes from falling asleep after using heroin or Xanax,” she said.

Ms Matos’s life spiralled out of control and she took whatever she could find to get a hit before suffering a major overdose in 2015.

The following year she entered a drug program but cheated on tests to show she wasn’t using when she was. It wasn’t until the following year that she finally got clean thanks to the love and support of her little girls.

The determined mother-of-two is also setting up her own charity RecoverME and helps mothers with addiction problems.

Hopefully her story helps another mother struggling with addiction.

Share your comments below.

21 Comments

- - ashna9 said
  - 03 Jun 2018
    3:01 pm
What a horrible photo. She must have been at her absolute lowest point. I am glad to hear she has turned things around. What a change!

- - mom298431 said
  - 03 Jun 2018
    12:56 pm
This lady is an inspiration to others. Determination and love goes a long. Hopefully having lived through this with their mother, the 2 young girls will never need the crutch of drugs.

- - cherz said
  - 03 Jun 2018
    12:52 pm
Wishing these amazing children all the very best life can hold.

- - mom114371 said
  - 03 Jun 2018
    9:44 am
Shocking photos! Nice to see she has turned her life around. Hopefully it might inspire others in the same situation to do the same.

- - mom297125 said
  - 02 Jun 2018
    8:08 pm
What a fantastic lady for being able to turn her life around and for helping others.

- - mom265671 said
  - 02 Jun 2018
    4:42 pm
Really sad story with a happy ending for the girls

- - Staceylee101 said
  - 02 Jun 2018
    2:39 pm
I really wish these drugs didn’t exist, those poor children suffered because of her mothers poor choices 🙁 but thankfully she came to her senses and worked hard to keep clean! I hope she sticks it out helping others

- - mom160421 said
  - 02 Jun 2018
    2:26 pm
Thank goodness this lady got her life back on track.

- - curlytops said
  - 02 Jun 2018
    11:29 am
Very brave of the mum to share her story as it is not a nice one to share. Thankfully she has turned her life around for herself and most importantly for the kids.

- - nadine_hill said
  - 02 Jun 2018
    8:03 am
What an ordeal for those poor girls to go through – thank goodness life is looking up for them and their mum!
- mom93821 replied
  
  03 Jun 2018 , 6:35 am
  It must have been horrific but just shows the strength to overcome and shows their love for each other.
- - taynik46 said
  - 02 Jun 2018
    6:49 am
what a scary time for those poor little girls – so tough and so brave they were. How lovely that their love did not waiver no matter the state of their mum. I am so happy that she got the help she needed and has turned her life around for the best. I bet her girls are extremely proud of her. Very inspiring lady

- - mom93821 said
  - 02 Jun 2018
    6:13 am
How horrific for the children and the mum. Addiction is truly awful and life changing. Glad she could turn it around and be an active and healthy mum to her children. Good to reach out to other mums and families too that may need support to to beat addiction.

- - Ellen said
  - 02 Jun 2018
    4:18 am
Thank God this mum could turn her life around for her children !
Hope and pray that her kids weren’t severly damaged in the years she was using. Only time will tell.
My 8 year old was severely neglected the first 3,5 years of her life with parents who used continuously. Abuse and neglect as such young age has literally impact on the development of the brain (in specific the cortex and limbic system). She has a Reactive attachment disorder with main symptoms in her case lying and compulsive stealing and destroying of items. She has had 3 years of psychological treatment and we just started the road of psychopharmaca with her.

- - becstalou said
  - 01 Jun 2018
    7:56 pm
Good on her for not only turning her own life around but for also trying to help others do the same.

- - BellaB said
  - 01 Jun 2018
    5:29 pm
This s horrible – but as her girls get older I’ll bet they’ll be proud of her for getting clean.

- - mom74005 said
  - 01 Jun 2018
    5:00 pm
Wow she’s a completely new Mum. It’s so sad for children in those positions. I’m so glad for the families sake Mum kept on the right track.

- - mom90758 said
  - 01 Jun 2018
    5:00 pm
So nice to hear that she decided to fight for her own life and for a better future for her daughters!!

- - mom81879 said
  - 01 Jun 2018
    4:53 pm
She looks wonderful. Glad she could pull it all together for her kids sakes. I recently had a family member go through a similar thing. She list her kids due to drug use, she’s recently got them back but has to undergo strict monitoring for quite a while

- - Cookfromscratchmum said
  - 01 Jun 2018
    3:39 pm
It must have been scary for her girls glad she’s recovering now and helping other mums
- kjgarner replied
  
  01 Jun 2018 , 6:07 pm
  Yes it’s good to turn a bad situation into a good one.