The Disappearing: Hope in the Midst of Addiction and Loss by Grieshop, Nancy

THE DISAPPEARING follows the author's family through even more trauma than she wrote about in her first book DESTINATION...SANITY. This story is based on true situations in Nancy's family. You will feel the love, concern, and fear that she experienced as more people in her family got sucked into the addiction quagmire. As her book begins, her older son Rick has beaten his addictions to opiates, yet he continues to use alcohol, nicotine, and probably a little weed. He is already gone, having died in his own swimming pool. Her younger son Josh chose alcohol as his drug of choice, beginning in high school. She watched helplessly as his health deteriorated in his late thirties. She explores the agony of watching her son suffer through his alcoholism and into medical conditions which he could not overcome. A granddaughter, Riley, started to experiment with drugs as a teenager. She eventually smoked, swallowed, and shot up anything she could get. She wanted to feel what her mom felt as she died of an accidental drug overdose when Riley was ten. She wanted to be with her mom. Riley nearly achieved that goal several times as she experienced addiction, homelessness, and rape. This is a good read not only for addicts, their friends and families, but also for professionals who work with addicts.

Nancy Grieshop lives in southeastern Ohio. Her humble beginnings as the youngest in a large family didn't prepare her for the tumultuous life she would live as her son became a drug addict. She had no blueprint to follow as she muddled through one horrifying challenge after another. Yet she was able to draw on the strength of family, friends and her faith to get her through some impossibly difficult situations. Nancy writes with amazing clarity about her life circumstances. Her sense of humor flows through the trail of tears left in the wake of addiction. Her desire is to lend hope and strength to others who are dealing with addiction themselves, touched their families or those who work with addicts.