Catherine Blair read the Tyrone Times front page story which outlined the womens' desperate call for assistance in setting up a support group for families whose loved ones are experiencing a similar situation.
The local women claimed heroin use in Dungannon has reached worrying levels, and made a special plea to anyone who had been addicted to heroin and managed to successfully come off the drug, to get in touch with them.
Now, Catherine, who lives in Lisburn and is currently training as a nurse, has answered that call, and taken the decision to tell her own inspirational tale of survival.

Addicted

Catherine, who is originally from Ballymena, describes how she was addicted to heroin for five years, from the age of 17. She has been off heroin since 2001.
"It has taken me a long time to get to where I am now", the young woman told the Tyrone Times.
"It is a long, slow drawn-out process. I had to leave my old life behind, and move away from my old circle of friends. People who have been through heroin addiction and come through the other side, often say that for every year of your life you are on it (heroin), it will take the same length of time before you're better. Looking back now, it probably took me a good five years to get completely better."

Turmoil

As a happy, bubbly 29 year-old, Catherine openly admits that she finds it difficult to recognise the person she once was during her darkest days as a heroin addict.
"If someone met me now, they would never think I was the same person that I used to be", says Catherine.
"My mum actually kept a pair of trousers from when I was at my worst. They were for an age 11 child, the waist on them was half the size I am now. My weight was only six stone at that time. My family didn't hold out any hope for me back then. When I first took heroin, though, I didn't realise what I was getting myself into. I didn't know how difficult it would be to get off it again.
"Of course, there is the depression and paranoia that comes after you getting off heroin, but staying off it is about finding something to replace heroin in your life. Because up until then, your whole life has been taken over by heroin."

Help

Catherine credits much of her own successful battle against the drug with finding religion and opening her eyes to a new way of life.
"I can't take the credit for getting off heroin all on my own", she says. "The Lord has carried me through it. I had tried so many times to come off it but was never able to stay off. For years people avoided me like I had the plague or something, but I met some Christians while in hospital. Those people kept visiting me and I knew then that there was something different about them. I couldn't understand why they were showing me love. I gave my life to the Lord when I got out of hospital and here I am today."