A heroin addict who overdosed five times and attempted to end her life when she became homeless has turned her life around.
Cara Tatarelli, 30, has been clean for three years and is enjoying life again after plunging into darkness amid her addiction. During which, she was trapped in a cycle of drugs, death, violence and crime, became painfully thin, and had sores on her face.
She first started "abusing substances" at 13 years old when she was dealing with the trauma of abuse. By 17, she had injected heroin and the following decade or so was a hellish "Groundhog Day" battle.
Speaking from her home in Detroit, Michigan, Cara now wants to help others struggling with addiction.
She said: "Things are really good now.
"But I lost my house, and then I ended up homeless in Detroit for almost four years. That was a whole new darkness I can't even begin to tell you about."
Now, however, Cara has a new home, two children and is engaged to Alex. She found the determination in 2020 to seek treatment stay clean.
Recalling her troubled teens, Cara told Daily Star Online : "The thing that really was the tipping point was when I was 13, I was assaulted by an older guy.
"That really threw me into a tailspin and I started abusing substances really heavily from that point.
"I was in a really dark headspace and a kid I went to school with, out of the blue, he was like, ‘Hey, have you ever tried heroin?’ I said no and he offered to inject me with it and crack. At this point I was so willing to try anything if it took the pain away."
Cara, who in her early 20s worked in psychiatric care as a nurse, found out she was pregnant with her first daughter in around 2013. It was the motivation she needed her to kick her drug habit and stay sober for a while.
But in 2017, Cara’s world was flipped upside down when she was prescribed pain medication after a hip operation.
"Once I took [the pills] after the surgery, it was like the six years of sobriety didn't matter any more," mum-to-two Cara added.
"So pretty shortly after that, I relapsed back on heroin, as a nurse mind you."
She was eventually fired from her nursing job, her relationship with her daughter deteriorated and she ended up living on the streets in Michigan.
The streets were unimaginably violent and Cara entered a world she “had never experienced before”. She was taking a deadly cocktail of heroin, crack, meth and fentanyl.
Cara continued: “There are a lot of drug houses, like trap houses, and homeless people go there to use and sell drugs or prostitutes.
“You would just see people getting raped and you could hear it in another room.
“One of the girls who was only 18 got shot and died. Things like that would happen every day. It was like Groundhog Day."
Cara said she hit a point of despair and felt utterly hopeless.
She said she used to tell herself: “I hate myself. I'm so ashamed and embarrassed of who I am. It's just a dark, dark cycle."
Cara could not see a way out of the hole she was in and tried to take her own life.
"There were probably five times that I can think of that I overdosed. I'm very thankful to those strangers who called 911," she said.
But since spending 28 days in the treatment centre in 2020, Cara has changed her life. She gave birth to her second child, Savannah, in August 2021.
The mum is rebuilding her relationship with her 10-year-old daughter too.
"I had really worked to repair that relationship with her. I'm getting married in June."
Follow Cara's recovery journey on TikTok, here.
For emotional support, you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
