A Dundee woman – whose letter to her drug-addict parents made international headlines – has launched her latest bid to help families affected by drugs and alcohol.
Chelsea Cameron penned an open letter to Tammy and Alexander Cameron back in 2016.
The letter – first published in the Evening Telegraph – spoke with hard-hitting honesty about the devastation of growing up around drugs.
But the then 18-year-old also thanked her mum and dad for teaching her important life lessons.
It led to the teenager winning awards and going on TV to speak about her experiences.
Now Chelsea, 24, has opened up about how the death of her dad earlier this year has inspired her to make a difference to others once again.
Next month she will take part in the Scottish Half Marathon in Edinburgh in aid of Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol and Drugs (SFAD).
Her initial target of £200 was smashed in the first 12 hours and now Chelsea is hoping to continue raising money in her dad’s memory until the run takes place.
The pair remained close until he died on April 21.
Chelsea – who works with Dundee drugs charity the Cairn Centre Harm Reduction Service – said: “My life and many others’ lives have been torn apart by the cruelty of the illness that is addiction.
“I suddenly lost my dad, who had a lifetime battle with addiction.
“The daily struggle of grief is something I have yet come to terms with.
“I decided to do something to help others in his memory. I don’t know if drugs were actually the cause of his death but there is no doubt that his addiction to drugs could well have played a part.
“Over the last few years I have watched many people I have worked with, come to care for or close friends, lose a loved one due to some form of drug or alcohol-related death, directly or indirectly.
“Everyone has been affected by addiction or at least knows someone who has.
“We live in a society that is quick to judge about addiction, but if I had a magic wand and one wish, it would be that people can see those individuals and think about how their reaction would be different if it was their parent, child or sibling.”
Half marathon on Chelsea’s bucket list
Chelsea says running a half marathon has been on her bucket list for some time – but was not possible due to Covid.
Her plans to compete in the Edinburgh Half Marathon earlier this year were affected by Alexander’s death, but she has now signed up for the Scottish version instead.
She said: “Now I feel more dedicated than ever to achieve a personal goal of mine for a cause greater than I could have imagined.
“I have been in awe of this charity and the work that they do for many years as a professional in this sector.
“Now I wear a more personal hat and my love for SFAD and the work they do has grown even stronger.
“At my dad’s funeral, SFAD was the nominated charity and people donated so generously. I would like to use this opportunity as an extension of that.
“It would be the privilege of my life to represent SFAD and even raise a small amount of money in memory of a man who makes my heart full – who was purely good but caught up by the challenges, barriers and lack of compassion towards addiction that we all know too well.”
-
To mum and dad…
I’ve had the best few years of travel, educational achievements and continued to have many great years in the church. You probably think you know me but you don’t.
Thank you for teaching me that taking drugs ruins lives, breaks families apart and gives no-one a quality of life worth living. I’ll be eternally grateful for this lesson you have taught me, which has a message that has stuck by me until this day and always will — I have never and will never have a desire to take harmful substances through your example.
Thank you for teaching me to be ambitious. Your example showed me that no ambition for education, work or any type of success is very harmful and leads to not a lot of self-worth. Your example showed me that life is all about choices and that I didn’t need to make the same ones you did. Remember that time we forced dad into watching Hannah Montana? You probably can’t remember it but there’s a line in one of the songs that says: “Life is what you make it so let’s make it rock.” Life has turned out for me what I have chosen to make it. You both can make your life rock as you make good choices.
Thank you for teaching me to not be so easily embarrassed. You both have not made the best of choices — those have sometimes gone pretty public allowing everyone I associate with to know what you are both like. But that has given me the opportunity to speak freely and openly about who I am and how my life has been growing up. Up until my third or fourth year of high school I tried to have an alter ego. People didn’t need to know the circumstances I was in, and in fact if they found out, I’d probably die on the spot because I made myself something that wasn’t associated with the harsh truth of our lives. The thing that kept me sane was thinking people didn’t know the truth, they probably did but I brainwashed myself into thinking they didn’t.
Life is not sunshine and rainbows and thank you for teaching me that life is unfair — people disappoint you and there’s sometimes nothing you can do about that. A lesson well learnt from the both of you.
Thank you for not being there to wave goodbye as I jetted off to Uganda on a trip of a lifetime, thanks for not being there when I got my first set of exam results to say well done, thanks for not being there when I got the position of head girl (a personal dream), thanks for not being there for me as I stood in front hundreds of people to speak at the Caird Hall for my school prizegiving, thank you for not being there for me when I needed you.
You’ve given me the greatest lesson of how to be independent. You have both allowed me to be a more patient and tolerant person than I could have imagined.
Dad, I see you often but I hope you now have a greater insight into the type of person I am and the things you have taught me.
Mum, I’ve not seen you in a while and I hope you’re well. I hope you also know me a bit better now, and know that I’m trying to be a good person and that all is well.
I hope one day that you’ll wake up and realise there is so much more the world has to offer you guys and when that day comes, please come to find me so we can enjoy life together. I’ll show you some nice restaurants I like to go to and if you’re lucky I might take you to Germany one day.
Until then, I’ll dream of what my life would be like with parents to enjoy it with.
— Chelsea
Dundee records fall in drug death rate as Scotland-wide figure declines
Conversation