Her story also touches on a deeper shame she feels, one that took her a long time to share. Her son was diagnosed with some serious health issues just before his 3rd birthday. Even though all of her doctors have told her there's no way her drug addiction could have caused her son's health to decline, Sara feels like she will always blame herself. 

One of the biggest reasons it's been hard for her to be open about her addiction is because she's afraid people will hear her story, see her son and then make the same assumption. However, she's choosing to fight the fear and share her story anyway in hopes it helps someone else. 

Sara believes our society as a whole needs to stop making assumptions about who an addict is because the truth is, you can't always tell who is struggling with addiction. It could be your neighbor, father, sister, friend or coworker. 

According to the CDC, on average 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. With numbers like this Sara knows she's not alone, but she's also never met a single person who is open about their addiction and this really points to one thing: shame is silencing people into believing they are alone until it's too late. 

Sara hopes her story will bring a glimmer of hope to someone else and start a lifesaving conversation.