12/18/2025
SHE ONCE WAS LOST BUT THROUGH SOBRIETY
HAS FOUND NEW MEANING IN HER LIFE THROUGH
She stood on the subway tracks. Trapped in her addiction and haunted by her past trauma, she could not imagine herself ever having a bright future. The next train would end her pain. Someone—a stranger who did not want to see her die—literally pulled her back from the brink and saved Sasha’s life.
But many years passed before her recovery journey would unfold—from that day when she thought death was her only option, to where Sasha is today—so grateful to be alive. Those years of struggle make these last 15 months of transformation even more meaningful to her.
Both her parents were addicted to he**in. As a teenager, Sasha ran away from multiple foster homes, often going to methadone clinics in a desperate search for her mom. As a young adult, Sasha remained very much a lost child—he**in being about the only drug she would not try—until, at 21, she climbed down from the subway platform and onto the tracks.
Within a decade of her su***de attempt, Sasha moved to Kansas City and had “gotten clean.” But staying sober wasn’t easy. She relapsed.
Sasha had a powerful reason to get better: she was a mother. Though she needed help, she feared asking for it might cost her what was most precious to her—her children.
Going to one Narcotics Anonymous meeting in late 2024 changed everything. That meeting led to Sash participating in the COMBAT-supported recovery program offered through Greater Impact Kansas City. When we first met her in March of this year, she talked earnestly about wanting to earn her one-year sobriety chip: “I want to make it for my kids.”
Now a year that began with Sasha rediscovering hope is ending with her making plans for what she wants her life to be in 2026 and beyond. Her three sons are doing well. She is sober, stronger, and ready for the challenges and opportunities each new day brings.
“I used to be living in constant fear,” she says. “How would people judge me? What I’ve been through… those things are behind me. The future looks brighter.”
