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Today, Jen Calhoun has a lot of the same concerns that any young mother might have. But not long ago, her concerns were about survival. She was homeless, drug addicted and spending her days among the sad and lost crowds that populate Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. She agreed to an interview at KelownaNow to talk about how she was able to make a change and get a second chance at building a life.
Her days in the East Hastings Street area of Vancouver were dreary. Each day consisting of "looking for my next place to sleep," said Calhoun. "Which was typically behind a dumpster or at a bus stop."
Things really bottomed-out for her as she watched her friends begin to die one by one. "Overdoses mainly," she explained. "A couple were shot, one girl froze in a park...stabbings."
Calhoun feared she would be next. "I felt my time coming," she recalls. "I saw all my friends dropping like flies, so I didn't want to be the next one." Her adoptive mother helped get her to a horse farm near Mayerthorpe, Alberta. With the support of the people at Touchstone Farms, she was able to cut herself off from the grips of her addiction. Now she's married, living in Kelowna and a mother of three children.
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