Jasmine's Place Issue No. 18 - May/June 2017 | Page 18

INSPIRATIONAL More Than A Statistic Adelle Howells At 5 years old, I walked into the kitchen to find my mum going cold turkey on the floor and all I could think about was finding her medicine (that’s what I called it back then) if I could find that, then I could make my mum better. I was born in Manchester and went to my first primary school in Old Trafford. I had no idea but that school was the first of 13 different schools I’d end up going to. I didn’t think my life was any different to anyone else’s. It wasn’t until I was about 10 yrs old and we were living in Radcliffe, that I realised my mum was an addict. It turns out my dad was an addict too but he didn’t live with us because he split up from my mum before I was born, so he used to come and see me every now and then until eventually he stopped coming. Drugs, alcohol and violence were always on the scene when I was growing up. 18 JASMINE'S PLACE Adelle's life was characterised by drugs, alcohol and violence. But then something happened that turned her whole life around.