I am born short of breath and a depressed child

At age ten, I am being treated with tranquilizers

At age twelve, my sister and me are using pot, mushrooms, and LSD

At age sixteen, my sister and I start shooting heroin

At age eighteen, I am psychotic for the first time

At age nineteen, I marry a doctor and live as a middle-class housewife and a junkie

At age nineteen, I am for the first time forced to submit to psychiatric treatment for psychosis, depressive disorder, addiction, and hysteria

At age twenty-seven, my sister dies of a heroin overdose

At age twenty-seven, I start drinking excessive amounts of alcohol

At age twenty-eight, I adopt my sister’s heroin baby as my beloved child

At age twenty-eight, I train as a educationalist, and work with children while on drugs

At age twenty-nine, I am pregnant and stop using heroin

At age twenty-nine, I am hospitalized for nine months, speechless and apathetic, and being treated for postnatal depression

At age thirty-four, I use cocaine and wander on the streets, bored and anxious

At age thirty-six, my husband dies

At age forty, I am beaten up and raped by a junkie who tries to force me into prostitution

At age forty-two, my boyfriend is for the first time found guilty of abusing me and detained

At age forty-seven, I enjoy wandering on the streets and using drugs with my boyfriend

At age fifty, my alcoholic father dies

At age fifty, I am clean for the second time in my life, and tired of life