Jennifer Brunner has spent the last seven months doing a lot of reflecting, inside an undisclosed rehab center in Western New York, as she works to overcome a heroin addiction she has been battling most of her life.
"The hardest part for me is trying to work through the guilt over what I have done to my children and my family," she said. "We don't want to be this way. I think sometimes people think we want to live that life and be in the street. It's just not so."
7 Eyewitness News had to speak with Brunner on video chat because cameras would disclose her treatment location. She's still in the fight for her life, trying to learn how to live a life without drugs.
"To teach us how to live all over again because a lot of us don't really know how," she said.
The 39-year-old mother of two was once a nurse before addiction took over. She says her lowest point was when she lived in abandoned homes across Western New York, doing anything to get her fix.
She says hope arrived when she was picked up by volunteers at the Recovery Key Program. She has been in recovery for seven months and says her days are spent in meetings and learning how to cope without drugs.
"Some of us are somebody's mother or father, and sometimes all we need is one person who believes in us."
If you or someone you know needs help, you can call the Recovery Key Program at 716-390-4253.
