From day one, my parents were always my biggest supporters, but after 6–7 years they decided to only care about themselves, meaning they got involved with drug abuse, and they were also mentally and physically abusive to each other, and us. Due to the drug, mental/physical abuse, DHS came into our lives, and the result was my brothers and I moving in with our grandparents. When living with our grandparents, we experienced many hardships. These hardships are not from my grandparents, they're from my parents. We faced the death of our dad because of drugs. We have almost lost our mother several times due to drug use. Drugs ruined my childhood, and it hurts to say that, because I was happy at the moment, because I thought it was normal, and no kid should think that drug/mental/physical abuse is normal. But after my father passed away, I felt alone, and felt like no one could be there like he was. My grandparents supported me not only emotionally, but financially as well. They have been through it all with us. With every hardship we've faced, they have been there to help. My biggest supporters now are my grandparents. They support my decision to go into the healthcare field, and they believe that I can do it. They say they will help me through college, as well as help me with some of my courses if I need help. They will also support me financially, which is great, because not all parents/grandparents would do that for the children. Throughout the course of high school, they helped me with my class as well, and helped me learn the material that I needed to study. I found my passion because of them, and my passion is helping people. My grandparents have been the best grandparents anyone could ever ask for. They helped me and my brothers when they didn't have to. They saved us from being separated from each other. They helped me through tough times, like struggling with the death of my father, or my mother being absent, and even school. They have helped me through it all, and I thank them for it. They continue to help me outside their household too, which makes them even better. I am beyond thankful to my grandma and my grandpa. They have changed my life in more ways than I can imagine. I thank them so much for that.

Drug abuse can change a person's thinking, and behavior. So here is my story. Before I was born both of my parents had been abusing drugs, which caused my brother's, and my life to spiral downward. Our parents were toxic and abusive to each other, it was an overall toxic household. My dad would physically and mentally abuse my mother, and she would mentally abuse him. Not to mention that our father would mentally abuse us boys, and sometimes physically. It was not a good environment for us. We would stay home from school just to make sure that our mother was well, and safe just in case she got hurt. And we thought it was normal because it was the only thing that we experienced in childhood. Years later, DHS got involved with our situation. Our school, the school that we attended would lift our shirts to check for any markings of any kind. DHS had gotten so involved that we were going to be put up for adoption. Luckily our mother's parents stepped in and welcomed us into their household. Ever since then, it has been home. In 2017-2018 my father got sober and was trying to have us come live with him again, and he was doing so good, until eventually he relapsed. On April 28th, 2018, a week after my birthday, my father died in his home, due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Everyone is unsure of whether he committed suicide, or if it was an accident. My mother promised that should would sober up for us boys, but she lied. Then she lied again and completely cut connection to us boys. When we finally regained connection to our mother, she promised us again that she would change, but it took a total of 6 times for it to finally get through her head. Till eventually she almost lost her life in hospice. I told her one last time that if she didn't change then I was finished believing in her. When she got out of hospice she went straight to treatment in Sioux City at Jackson Recovery. She went for a month, and she almost got her life turned around, but then she started to spiral down. She was sober for two years and then relapsed. All these events left me numb, and my life has never been the same since. The way that my life occurred made me realize that I never wanted to be like both of my parents. I want to make a change, and not make the same mistakes my parents did. I want to help people with my life, that's why I want to go into the medical field. I want to give emotional support to those who are not healthwise well, knowing that maybe they grew up in a toxic household as I did. Helping people has always been a passion for me, I find joy in helping people around me, and that's why I'm going to study nursing and make it my life. I want to feel empathy for those around me going through a health crisis. Helping people is truly my passion, so going into the medical field is the best way to go about it.

My name is Jason Cady, and I am a senior attending Hampton-Dumont-CAL. I plan to major in the medical field, and I am not sure what yet. I plan to attend NIACC (North Iowa Area Community College). I will start school there in the fall of 2024 (August 2024) and will live on campus. While attending NIACC I will study the medical field, and learn what I want my future to be. I have always been interested into studying medicine since I was a little kid. Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to make my life different from everybody else's. While growing up, my parents were drug abusers, which led my brothers and I to have a difficult life. My parents used to physically and mentally abuse each other. Sometimes it got so bad that me and my brothers had to get involved otherwise someone would have gotten hurt. My life continued like this and everything was still toxic in our household, until DHS got involved. DHS tried to rip my brothers and me apart, but my mother's parents stepped in and took us in. My mom also had to come with us, because of my father. She thought that he was going to kill her. And I never noticed how thankful I was during the moment, but now that I look back it, I am so grateful, and thankful. My brothers and I did move to Mason City once to live with our aunt, and uncle. But it didn't last too long, and soon enough we were back our grandparents. When moving in with our grandparents our mother completely abandoned us. Leaving us with no mother figure, and no father figure. They both cut off contact for 2-3 years due to them using drugs. After those 2-3 years, my mother made an appearance again, and for what? I'm not sure. It was April 28th, 2018. A week after my birthday. My Brothers and I were on our way to adventure land, and my grandma got a call. My brothers and I thought nothing of it, even though my grandma was crying. We had a fun day at adventure land, until the moment we came home. When we walked into the door, our mother was already there, and I was confused, she was also crying. Seconds later our grandparents called us into the living room. When we entered the living room Everyone was crying except my brothers and I. Going into that living room changed my life forever. We sat down, and they told us something that we never imagined we would hear at such a young age. They told us that our father passed away. They went more into depth, and I didn't think it was true, I thought to myself "Not my dad, he's okay." Then reality settled in and caused me to bawl. Before his death we were close to moving in with him, he was changing his life, but then his life was taken from him, and his family. My mom promised us that she would change, and she lied. She continued these lies for the next 2 years. Soon enough she was sent to the hospital, for a drug overdose, but luckily she made it out, and she went to rehab and changed her life. When I flash forward to my life now, I have learned that I don't want to live the same life my parents did, I want to have a steady job, that I can help people at. That is why, I want to be in the medical field.

When my father passed away, I didn’t know what to think. I was in denial that it happened to me, and my family. My life was already hard enough as it was, and this just made it ten times harder. While growing up my parents were very bad addicts. They would constantly abuse each other, call each other names, and get into bad fights to the extent where my brothers and I had to get involved. Growing up at the time I thought it was normal for your dad to hurt your mom, and vise versa. But now that I am turning 18 in April I have learned that it was not normal to have that kind of life, and it was not normal for kids to be involved in fights, physical, and verbal. My father was a good father, but he was not a great person. My dad would constantly hurt my little brother, and my mother, I don’t even know why. But my dad is my dad, and I love him for that. He was the greatest dad when he wanted to be, but the moment he was using again is when it got bad. And I feel a sort of shame for missing a man who hurt the ones that I loved the most, but he is my dad so I can not just not miss and love him. On april 28th 2018, a week after my birthday my dad passed. And he was starting to turn his life around, but then it had been stolen from him, and from my family. When I was told, I thought that it wasn’t true, and that he was still with us. Then I started to believe that he was actually dead, and I went into complete shock, and started crying to the point where my eyes were numb. After my dad passed away I’ve never felt the same as I once was. Facing these obstacles in my life have effected my relationships a lot. When I get yelled at I don’t know what to do, I just turn everything off. I don’t even know what real love looks like, because my parents never displayed that. Losing a loved one truly hurts the worst, even if they weren’t the best person. You will still miss everything about them. Their voice, the way the talk, the way they care for you and much much more. The death of a family member is the worst, and I don’t wish it upon my worst enemy. This has also drastically changed my life for the good too, because had this not happened I wouldn’t be who I am today.

Drug abuse can change a person's thinking, and behavior. So here is my story. Before I was born both of my parents had been abusing drugs, which caused my brother's, and my life to spiral downward. Our parents were toxic and abusive to each other, it was an overall toxic household. My dad would physically and mentally abuse my mother, and she would mentally abuse him. Not to mention that our father would mentally abuse us boys, and sometimes physically. It was not a good environment for us. We would stay home from school just to make sure that our mother was well, and safe just in case she got hurt. And we thought it was normal because it was the only thing that we experienced in childhood. Years later, DHS got involved with our situation. Our school, the school that we attended would lift our shirts to check for any markings of any kind. DHS had gotten so involved that we were going to be put up for adoption. Luckily our mother's parents stepped in and welcomed us into their household. Ever since then, it has been home. In 2017-2018 my father got sober and was trying to have us come live with him again, and he was doing so good, until eventually he relapsed. On April 28th, 2018, a week after my birthday, my father died in his home, due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Everyone is unsure of whether he committed suicide, or if it was an accident. My mother promised that should would sober up for us boys, but she lied. Then she lied again and completely cut connection to us boys. When we finally regained connection to our mother, she promised us again that she would change, but it took a total of 6 times for it to finally get through her head. Till eventually she almost lost her life in hospice. I told her one last time that if she didn't change then I was finished believing in her. When she got out of hospice she went straight to treatment in Sioux City at Jackson Recovery. She went for a month, and she almost got her life turned around, but then she started to spiral down. She was sober for two years and then relapsed. All these events left me numb, and my life has never been the same since. The way that my life occurred made me realize that I never wanted to be like both of my parents. I want to make a change, and not make the same mistakes my parents did. I want to help people with my life, that's why I want to become a nurse. I want to give emotional support to those who are not healthwise well, knowing that maybe they grew up in a toxic household as I did. Helping people has always been a passion for me, I find joy in helping people around me, and that's why I'm going to study nursing and make it my life. I want to feel empathy for those around me going through a health crisis. Helping people is truly my passion, so being a nurse is the best way to go about it.