Melissa DesChamps says by 2006 she was a needle junkie and crack addict who sold her body to support her addictions.
Then just 22 years old, it took seeing her mother lying in a hospital bed fighting a nasty strain of pneumonia brought on by a lifetime of drug and alcohol addiction to help her find a better path.
At that moment, her own son already in foster care because of her struggles with addiction, a place he’d remain for 29 months, she realized she needed to make drastic changes in her life.
“It was soon after that I realized I had abandoned my own child,” she said on Monday, helping the city’s Drug Awareness Committee launch the second annual Rockin’ Recovery Day, where Deschamps will join several others in recovery sharing their stories, showing other addicts their struggles can come to an end.
For DesChamps, change came slowly.
She began a methadone program to help kick her opiate addiction and found the courage to escape an unhealthy relationship, spending a month-and-a-half at Shelter House while she put her shattered life back together.
DesChamps, now 30, got clean, got her son back and plans to attend Confederation College this fall.
She said she’s sharing her tale to help others understand they’re not alone and addiction can be conquered.
“There’s so much stigma, not just in Thunder Bay, but in the whole world, toward drugs and recovery and addiction. Having people by your side and advocating for you for recovery just gives us more hope, I believe,” she said.
“We beat ourselves up enough that we don’t need other people to beat us up. If we have people at our side and we celebrate Recovery Day together (we’ll succeed).”
The Sept. 2 event, scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the festival area at Marina Park, is a chance to show the human side of recovery, said Drug Awareness Committee co-ordinator Cynthia Olsen.
Everyone’s heard about the social ills surrounding addiction, the violence and crime that have plagued Thunder Bay.
But Rockin’ Recovery isn’t about sensationalizing the problem.
Instead it celebrates the role recovery plays in the everyday lives of victims. In addition to the shared stories, the free event will also include music and food vendors.
“It’s important to say that people can get well, that recovery happens,” Olsen said.
“Recovery means different things to different people. We’re hoping to create that language in our community and not always focus on the negative aspects of substance use and that we’re here to support folks in our community.”
The city proclaimed September as Recovery Month during the launch ceremony, which included DesChamps signing a guitar and presenting it Mayor Keith Hobbs.
Olsen added the Drug Awareness Committee is encouraging the community to become recovery allies and taking part in the Recovery Day snapshot competition. A $20 donations nets a Rockin’ Recovery Day concert T-shirt, which participants are encouraged to wear, take a selfie and share online using the hashtags #RecoveryAlly or #RockinRecovery.
More information can be found on the DAC Facebook page.
