There was a time when Susan Houston’s world felt like it was unraveling.
“I started to lose control of everything that was around me,” Susan said. “I was always fighting with my parents. I was never home for my kids.”
She never imagined that a breast cancer diagnosis would be the thing that saved her life, but it took her from a life headed down a dead end to a life full of purpose.
“I was almost glad that it happened, because I know now that if I hadn’t been diagnosed, I wouldn’t be standing here today,” she said. “It was a blessing in disguise.”
Susan’s life began with love and security.
“Growing up, I couldn’t have asked for better parents,” she said. “They loved me and my brother more than anything. My mom and daddy were always there.”
But constant support came with a hidden cost. She never had to take responsibility for her actions.
“So I never had that accountability,” said Susan.
In high school, when she began hanging out with a group that smoked marijuana and drank on the weekends to the point she was blacking out and didn’t know what happened the previous night.
“I wanted to be part of the group,” she recalls. “I wanted to fit in.”
Susan was just 18 years old when she had her first child, but her addiction was just starting.
“After I had her, I was running pretty wild. Mom and daddy were there taking care of her, and I was running wild,” she said.
Susan eventually moved to Kentucky, got married, and had more children. For a while, life seemed stable until she got divorced.
Her life began crumbling around her. Child Protective Services (CPS) was involved for three years, until she lost custody of all her children.
“I was mad at CPS because they were doing this. I was mad at God. I didn’t realize that it was me putting all these struggles on myself and not CPS and my parents. It was me the whole time,” Susan said.
Her decision to enter treatment in May 2020 wasn’t initially about change. She found out her oldest daughter was pregnant, and she didn’t want anything to do with Susan.
“I was like, you know, I think I’m going to go to rehab for 30 days,” she said. “I’ll be back in Mom and Daddy’s good graces, and I’ll be back in my kids’ lives and have my grandson.”
But just as she was preparing to leave treatment, everything shifted. She discovered a large lump in her breast.
What followed was a diagnosis that would turn Susan’s life upside down. She was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.
“I guess God knows that I’m probably one of the most stubborn people, so he had to really sit me down,” she said. “I was a person in my addiction who thought that the outer beauty of somebody is what mattered, but when God took my hair and my breast from me, and I weighed 300 pounds, I realized that it was what’s within somebody that really matters.”
Rather than turning back to the chaos, Susan made a promise to herself and her children.
“When I was diagnosed, I told myself that things were going to be different. I wanted to spend every day that I could with my children.”
She fought the disease with the same tenacity that she now brings to recovery, and she won! But the most challenging test was yet to come.
The day after Christmas in 2021, Susan received a call from her father. Her mother was in a car accident as she was driving Susan’s daughter to work. They both were killed.
“I hit my knees in the middle of the road and started screaming,” Susan remembers. “My mom was the anchor of our family, and I had to be that person now. I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t give up.”
Through the loss, her relationship with her father grew strong.
“He’s my best friend today because of it, and I hate that it took losing them for that to happen,” she said.
Susan stayed strong and leaned into her promise to her daughter to regain custody of her children.
“My daughter was my biggest cheerleader, and she never gave up on me. I look up at the sky all the time, and I say, ‘Maymay, I did it. I have custody of your brothers. I know you see me.”
Today, Susan is a leader. She is a residential coordinator at Crown Recovery Center, mentoring others who are walking the path she once did.
“I believe wholeheartedly with everything in me that I’ve been chosen for this path for a reason, and it’s so that I can help as many people as I can.”
To anyone who might be struggling, Susan offers this advice:
“If you’re blaming everyone else for what’s going on in your life, go to a meeting, talk to someone in recovery, or make the call to Addiction Recovery Care. It’s life-changing. You’ll be so glad you did!”
