KYNDALL'S STORY 

Kyndall was a quiet yet sensitive child. She was raised in a large family with 10 brothers and sisters in Woodbridge, NJ. Kyndall had a wonderful artistic talent, which was recognized at an early age. Although she did not express herself much by talking, her beauty and personality was evident in her artwork.

But it wasn’t just her artwork that made her special. Each year at school, she would have at least one teacher who became attached to Kyndall and would go out of their way for her. It was like she had some magical charisma that people would draw into. She carried that special trait with her throughout her life.

Around the age of 13, her mother left the house. Her father was given custody of the children. Her mother visited but then eventually never came back. Kyndall felt abandoned. Her father was there but they did not get along. She then decided to move in to her friend’s house at the age of 14. Her friend’s parents supported the idea and treated her like their own daughter.

At that time, Kyndall was smoking pot just like a lot of the other kids her age. She commented once that it was ‘only pot’. Not a big deal. It’s all natural, she said. She started hanging around with a boy who was a ‘good friend’ of hers. This ‘good friend’ recommended a better, mellower high than pot. This is when she met heroin. 15 years old.

Kyndall was a private person. She rarely disclosed her feelings through speech and she hid her heroin usage well. Although her grades were declining, she managed to make her way through High school. She was even awarded $1,000 and 1st place in the National Asthma Poster contest.

Some of Kyndall’s brothers and sisters knew something was wrong though. Money would disappear when she came over to visit. She started complaining of headaches and she slept a lot. When they heard she got a full art scholarship to the University of Arts in Philadelphia, they thought that was the best possible thing for her. Whatever problems she was having now would be all better once she went away to school. WRONG.

Kyndall was expelled from school only a couple months after she started. They found a syringe in her dorm room. Kyndall denied everything to her family stating it was someone else’s and she got the blame for it. They thought she would come back home to Woodbridge but she did not. She stayed in Philly. That is where she spent most of her addicted life.

From what her family knows, she lived with an abusive, heroin addicted boyfriend, then she lived in the streets. She was in and out of rehabs all the while telling them she was in a hospital being treated for depression. They knew what the real story was though. Her sisters even offered to take her in. She stayed once at one of her sister’s house but was told to leave because she stole her niece’s piggy bank. Another sister offered her to stay at her home on the condition that she follow some rules and go to NA. Kyndall never showed up.

In fact, Kyndall didn’t show up for a lot of things. Weddings, showers, birthday parties, even Christmas. They would not hear from her for months at a time.

Then, at age 22 she calls and says she is in a halfway house. It was a rehab for women called Greenway in the Poconos. This was the first time she admitted to her family of her addiction. They prayed very hard for her. It seemed to work. She finished the program and moved out 8 months later. She had a wonderful roommate who was a friend she met at work and was an extremely good woman. 

 Her family cherished the time they got to spend with her in that year. It was so wonderful to have her back. She seemed to be full of life. She bought nice clothes, had her nails done, kept a job and was planning to go back to school...

She stayed clean for a little more than a year until she relapsed. Her family will never know why she relapsed although from what they read in her journals, it was the fight of her life every day. No one really knew how hard it was for her.

She went back to Philly on that fateful day. She copped in Kensington and returned to her old roommates house with her goods. She asked her old roommate for a sleeping pill before going to sleep. She said she had trouble sleeping. She never woke up.

Her family cries now. Her family thinks of her every day. Her family loves her. Her family knows that she is finally free of her earthly demon. This demon called Heroin.