The kindness of strangers: I was homeless and addicted to heroin. Joanne saved my life
She said, ‘Come and stay at my house. I’ll look after you and we’re going to get you into rehab’
- Read more in the Kindness of strangers series
By the time I was 19, my life had spiralled out of control – I was homeless and destitute, my infant son was living with my abusive mother and I was addicted to heroin. I’d had a pretty dodgy childhood; my father died when I was very young and I was left with my mother. At 16, already very traumatised by what I’d experienced at home, I ran away and ended up living in Sydney. It was 1996.