This story was first published in November 2019.
Warning: This article mentions rape and attempted suicide.
A recovering meth and heroin addict who resorted to stealing and prostitution to fund her habit has shared her inspiring two-year transformation.
Jamee Valet, 25, shared her incredible before-and-after photos to the popular Facebook group 'The Addict's Diary' on Wednesday.
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"My name is Jamee and I am a recovering heroin and meth addict," the Oregon resident captioned the two photos.
"These pictures are [two] years apart. The better-looking version of me being just a few months ago when I got my GED! Recovery is possible!"
A photo from 2017 shows Valet with pockmarked, scabbed skin and deep, black circles beneath her eyes. The other shows the 25-year-old at her July graduation ceremony for her GED [general education development] diploma, her skin clear and glowing.
In a candid interview with the Daily Mail, Valet said her years of drug abuse started with marijuana as a 13-year-old, her "really rough" childhood leading to drugs, sex and alcohol as "ways to escape reality".
As a teen, Valet became hooked on Vicodin, oxycodone, morphine and Percocet after being introduced to the prescription pills by a former boyfriend. When she was 17, Valet was raped by two men while she was intoxicated and incoherent.
To cope with the trauma of the rapes, Valet turned to heroin and methamphetamine after being introduced to the class A drugs by a dealer. When her using developed into a daily habit, Valet resorted to stealing to fund her addiction.
Valet has been arrested six times throughout her life. She told the Daily Mail that her first stint in jail led to a suicide attempt when she was just 19 years old, leaving her in a coma for two days.
After a brief stint of sobriety, Valet relapsed, attending a year-long inpatient programme. Through the course, she met her current boyfriend, Jake. The two moved in together - but a miscarriage caused Valet, then 20, to relapse again.
"I put my boyfriend through hell," she admitted to the Daily Mail.
After confessing that she had a problem to Jake's family, Valet was sent on a 90-day inpatient programme by his mother. A second miscarriage resulted in a second "super short" relapse before Valet started to piece her life together.
The 25-year-old has now been clean for a year. She received her GED in January and has found work in the construction industry, but hopes to go to university and become an esthetician.
After years of stealing from relatives, the 25-year-old is working to rebuild her relationship with her family.
To those struggling with addiction, Valet said "there is always hope" as long as people are willing to change.
Newshub.
