A HOMELESS heroin addict who first started injecting the drug when she was just 17 has told how she turned her life around & found happiness.
Cara Tatarelli hopes she can inspire others to get clean as she shared photos of her at her lowest point – and the astonishing glow up she has enjoyed since getting clean.
Cara Tatarelli shared pictures of herself at her lowest point on TikTok[/caption]
Cara explained how she got trapped in a ‘dark cycle’[/caption]
She is sharing her story to inspire others[/caption]
The 30-year-old has been off the drugs for three years – and now has three children with a wedding coming up in June.
Cara, from Detroit, in the US, explained how she was caught in a “Groundhog Day” cycle of drugs, violence and death.
She was left covered in painful sores, was skeletal thin and even tried to take her own life.
And while she started using heroin when she was 17, her first drug abuse came when she was just 13.
Cara explained she was assaulted by an older man – something which threw her into a “tailspin”.
“I was in a really dark headspace and a kid I went to school with, out of the blue, he was like, ‘Hey, have you ever tried heroin?’,” she told The Daily Star.
“I said no and he offered to inject me with it and crack. At this point I was so willing to try anything if it took the pain away.”
By the time she was 20 – Cara was using heavily, but initially managed to kick the habit when she fell pregnant with her first daughter.
She stayed clean for six years and became a nurse – life was good.
But then in 2017 her demons came back when she was prescribed pain medication after a hip operation.
She said: “Once I took [the pills] after the surgery, it was like the six years of sobriety didn’t matter any more.”
Cara was fired from her job, her relationship with her family broke down, and she ended up living homeless.
“That was a whole new darkness,” she said.
The mum was locked in a world of crime and violence, saying she would regularly see people getting raped and murdered.
And she started taking a cocktail of heroin, crack, meth and fentanyl, leaving her feeling utterly hopeless.
Describing it as a “dark cycle”, she overdosed five times – but then finally managed to muster the strength to seek treatment.
Cara managed to kick the habit – and is now engaged to her fiance Alex, with a wedding set for June.
She is rebuilding her relationship with her 10-year-old daughter Gianna, and is now a mum again to 19-month-old Savannah.
“Things are really good,” the mum-of-two said.
