When the telltale signs of addiction began in Susan Mill’s home, she took notice, but didn’t believe it could be drugs.
“It was my family member,” said Mill, a Lexington County resident. “I just thought we were protected, that it wouldn’t happen to us.”
Mill said, in hindsight, she wished her family had talked about drugs and attended various events put on to deter kids from trying them. Now, she’s making sure other parents make it a priority.
“We go to all of our kid’s practices, we make sure they’re tutored, but this is their life,” she said. “These are decisions that they’re making that affect their life and it might to be that they have two or three times, it might be one time that they try it and they won’t get a second chance.”
For the first time, Mill and her husband, Scotty, will publicly share their experience at Mt. Horeb Baptist Church on Oct. 16. They’ll be joined by a panel of experts who hope to fight back against an epidemic sweeping the country.
“You owe it to yourself, you owe it to your child to come out and see Chasing the Dragon and see how you can help your child, your family and your communities,” Mills said. “This is a huge problem and you don’t want to go through this.”
While they were once lost and isolated, Mill said her family has a purpose now –preventing others from feeling that same way.
“I want to break the stigma because we can’t help our kids, we can’t help ourselves and we can’t help our communities by staying silent.”