A Mother's Final Gift

I sobered up five years ago, in a hospital bed. I was so sick with alcoholism that I was unable to sit up, feed myself or breathe on my own—it’s truly a miracle that I survived. Since that time, my sobriety has brought me countless other miracles. One of the greatest of these was that my mother could see me get sober before she died. During my active years of drinking, I was scared and angry over many things. But my mother’s illness was at the top of the list: She had emphysema and COPD.