In an effort to raise awareness of addiction, Jennifer Salfen-Tracy, a mother in Missouri, shared chilling before and after photos of her son, who she says is addicted to heroin and methamphetamine.
While she was hesitant to make the images public, she decided to move forward because “many people ask how things are going, so I feel I should share.”
October 9th she posted the before and after pictures on Facebook of her son Cody Bishop, saying, “The face of heroin and meth…is reality for so many people and families in this world.” By being courageous to share the picture on social media, her post has been shared over 66,000 times with nearly 30,000 comments.
Cody was a high school athlete who graduated in 2011.
His mother says she has “turned it over to God and pray that he decides he is tired of living like this and wants to come home to get help.”
The side by side pictures were taken 7 months apart.
“Hearing how bad he is doing is hard but not hearing at all is worse,” she continued. “The unknown is what makes a person not sleep at night…It is hard to understand how someone who has families and children who love and need them live the life they do.”
Jennifer is using her social media platform not only raising awareness about drug addiction, but also an organization in Las Vegas helping the homeless called ‘Real Change for the Homeless,’ where her son is currently living on the streets.
Many families like Jennifer’s are using their voices to not only get help for their loved ones, but all affected by addiction.
Teen Challenge, a faith based organization founded by David Wilkerson, has a 60-70 percent success rate compared to the 3-10% success rate in secular programs. They are now in more than 110 nations, and says their success rate is the, “Jesus Factor.”
“Our program focuses on the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s Word to give our students a guiding light,” the program’s website states. “We encourage our students to form a stronger connection to their faith. This makes a huge difference in their recovery. We provide a faith-based environment to encourage healing and a new life in Christ.”