Posted at: 08/15/2012 9:19 PM
Updated at: 08/15/2012 11:23 PM
By: Dietrich Nissen
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Email to a FriendMother Shares Daughter's Tragic Story of Heroin Use
(ABC 6 News) -- Minnesota law enforcement is concerned about a growing trend. They say more people are using heroin. In just the past 2 years, hospitals say they've seen a 68 percent increase in the number of heroin overdoses.
Last Friday, a 23-year-old Rochester woman died from a heroin overdose. As her family prepares for her funeral, her mother, Sharon, made the very difficult decision to share her daughter's story, and for a very important reason.
Sharon Schlingmann believed her daughter, Rachael, had a full life ahead of her.
"I'm a single mom, she was my world. She's the only child I'll- she's the only child I'll ever have. I'll never have grand babies. I'll never see her get married, I'll never see her be a psychologist…um...she was my world," says Sharon.
Rachael was an aspiring model and going to college while working.
"probably the most outgoing, vivacious, crazy,...intelligent woman, I've ever met," says Sharon. From the outside, she was someone you would never expect to be addicted to heroin.
"She said, ‘mom, it's like the devil grabbed my soul and he won't let go," says Sharon.
As Rachael used the drug, she wrote this poem describing how trapped she felt.
"With a tingle down your spine, once you pay a fine, the devil will kiss you right on the lips," reads Sharon. "There's a sting from a bee, and your conscience is free, but he's already stole your fate."
But her fate was something she wanted back. A year ago, she volunteered for treatment and just weeks before she died, she was living at home with Sharon and trying to get clean.
"In no way whatsoever did I think I would come home and find my daughter gone," says Sharon, a mother now left with unimaginable grief.
"If I can do anything to save one person from dying from heroin or an overdose that's my goal right now."
A calling to make sure others can live a life she had always wanted for her daughter.
Rachael's funeral is Thursday morning at Pax Christi Catholic Church in Rochester.
Her family says if you or anyone you know is battling drug addiction help is available at places like, Empower CTC: 507-316-0841.
Rachael’s Complete Poem:
With a tingle down your spine,
Once you pay a fine,
The devil will kiss you right on the lips.
Right from the start,
You will feel it in your heart,
And it vibrates down to your hips.
So you’ll stare at your grain,
As you ponder your pain,
And all love grows quickly to hate.
There's a sting from a bee,
And your conscience is free,
But he's already stole your fate.
While you’re unaware,
And seem not to care,
His grasp has been already made.
As you dance in his breath,
He’s plotted your death,
While your mind will slowly fade.
