Thank you, I really appreciate the comment.

I’m glad your son is doing well.

The biggest thing I took away from recovery is when they said, “people, places, and things”. That was everything and it didn’t sink in until I spent time going to groups.

I always knew when someone was going to make it. They had support. You are everything in your son’s world and recovery whether you know it or not.

The people who couldn’t get away, the ones who died, their whole family was infested and plagued with addiction.

I heard someone in his early 20s, “I got out of jail two months ago. I did good until last week. I was helping my mom move and she crushed up a pill on the counter. I asked her nicely to please keep it away from me. “Oh, you done forgot where you came from. Mr. High and mighty don’t want me doing what he did for the last 5 years in front him.” I fucked up. I made a call later that day. I’m going to rehab next week.”

We had a moment of silence for him when he overdosed a few months down the road.

I have a friend who just fucked up a decade sober. He has a pace maker from his addiction and he’s only 42. He made it sober longer than anyone else I knew who kept company who still used. He couldn’t leave friends hanging and now he’s paying for it. I have hope that he’ll pull it off because he made it so long before. He’s been to rehab recently and they had to ship him to a hospital because of his heart. He’s heading to a rehab that is better equipped to deal with his health issues soon. He’s in love with a junkie though, and she’s beautiful, so I hope she gets clean or he gets away from her.

I am so lucky. My mother doesn’t even drink. She’s a damn good part of my support system. My uncle kept me employed and looked out for me while I got it together. It has been a huge privilege in my life to have him. The woman I’m with has no interest in drugs. She can’t even imagine me how I used to be.

It hurt walking away from people who had been so kind to me and kept me from being sick so many times, but I had to do it. I ignore them when they message me. Everyone in my life is sober. It’s literally the only way.

One of my closest friends, someone I spent every day with, I walked away from him. I told him, “When the dope is gone I’ll be around, I promise.” He cussed me, told me I was making an excuse so I didn’t have to deal with him. 5 years into my sobriety he called me and asked me if I meant it and if I’d help him. He actually got clean after 30 years on it. I got to sit with him and take care of him at the end of his life and that means the world to me, but if he hadn’t gotten away from it, I would be regretting not being there for him, but I’d know that I couldn’t have been.

I know you’re probably an expert looking out for your son at this point, but if he can stay away from users he won’t use again.

The groups seem like little cults to me, but for the people who make their life about the group, they usually don’t have anyone sober they can turn to outside of it. It isn’t for me because I have real support. They can make it with the support they find there.

Your son has real support in you, and that’s amazing. That’s everything.

I hope you never have to worry about him again. Take care.

Our friend had a similar story to yours, they were told they were making it up despite the fact they were starting to die anytime they went out in the sun, it took multiple near death experiences for them to get diagnosed as a child. I've never run into anyone else with it in the UK but there is a community of expats with it in Rotterdam the Netherlands as they have one of the best Porphyria treatment and research centers in the world. Our friend emigration their a while ago for it and has been using the new implant that's been developed and they've said it's completely life changing - it doubles their exposure time and allows them to live a much more normal life. If you'd like to make contact with other people with it, feel free to DM me your email and I can pass it along.