Dolores never saw addiction coming.

As a 72-year-old retiree, it somehow managed to sneak up on her. Finally, one day, she found herself alone in her New York apartment and decided she’d had enough.

She reached out to her daughter, who works as a nurse in Las Vegas, and opened up about the struggle she was going through. They quickly came up with a plan. Her daughter sent her a plane ticket and Dolores flew to her daughter, who took her to the Las Vegas Rescue Mission.

“I got sick and tired of being sick and tired,” Dolores says of her headspace when she decided to leave everything behind in New York and seek help in Nevada.

Since, she has dedicated herself to getting sober and focusing on her well-being going forward. She enrolled in the recovery program at the Mission, which she has found incredibly helpful. “We have classes, we have speakers,” Dolores says of the experience. “We go by different stages, rope that you wear, and I’ve got two more ropes before I graduate.” She is inspired and motivated by the experience.

This period of introspection and recovery has also helped her uncover what led to addiction. Dolores has a granddaughter who attends college in upstate New York. Dolores suspects that she might have gone through some trauma or sexual assault, which shifted her personality, and put a strain on their relationship. Her granddaughter found help in counseling, but Dolores escaped into substance abuse.

Now, at the Mission, she is rededicating herself to God as she works to heal and look ahead. “I totally submit my darkness to God. I gave it all to him,” she shares. “I needed that for me to be a whole person and as a grandmother and a mother, I don’t have to feel like that.”

When she leaves, she plans to continue working on her recovery, and intends to be a source of strength for her granddaughter.

“I don’t have to run. I can face reality,” she adds. “I can hug my granddaughter.”

Thank you for sharing compassion and helping people like Dolores find support!