fbpx

I didn’t want Billy to be the ‘poster child’ for heroin addiction

by Jenny Derr

Note from Anne Moss: I wrote this post, Going to Jail, prior to my visit and presentation on hope to the HARP, heroin addicts recovery program, in Chesterfield, VA. On that post, Jenny, in addiction to some others, posted comments I made screenshots of and shared in my presentation to the ladies in the program. I wanted them to know they mattered and made a difference. 

A couple of weeks after Billy died I received a letter that was in a Hope Church envelope. Inside was another envelope with a department of corrections stamp. I was having a horrible day. Was so sad.

Didn’t want to be the “poster child” for heroin addiction. This letter was from three women in jail in Chesterfield. They told me that they had read Billy’s obituary, that in fact the entire 40+ group of women had all read it.

They shared their stories with me. They thanked me for understanding the disease. That’s when I decided to put my big girl panties on and use our story to help.

Those women didn’t have to take the time to each write me. But they did and it meant so very much.  💙

Subscribe to this blog

Billy Derr’s Story

Published by

Jenny Derr

Jenny Derr is an active advocate for substance use disorder

One thought on “I didn’t want Billy to be the ‘poster child’ for heroin addiction”

  1. I know what you mean Jenny. Whitten was extremely private and I struggle with that all the time. He would not want me to share. However, we are left and we try to do the right thing.
    You and A-M have helped so many thousands of folks…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap