An Ohio woman’s recovery photo has gone viral and has been shared by thousands on Facebook. Ginny Burton posted a before-and-after photo on the social media platform, captioning it: “I honestly thought I’d die on a park bench with a needle in my arm or by gunshot to the head. I would’ve never in a million years thought my life would look the way it does today.”
When Burton was only six years old, she was introduced to marijuana by her mother, she told 10 WBNS. By the age of 12, she got into methamphetamine and cocaine. She spent time in juvenile hall and was incarcerated three times. Her life was careening toward an early end. That is, until eight years ago when her life took a turn.
“It’s the longest I have ever been clean in my life,” she said.
“If you would have told me that my life would look like it does today eight and a half years ago, I would have called you a liar,” she said. She now wants to motivate others and advises to “Stop selling yourself short. You don’t know what tomorrow might bring so you might consider starting today.”
She’ll now be graduating with a bachelor’s degree in political science. She’s already been accepted to the Evans School of Public Policy in Seattle, where Burton says she wants to change the prison system.
