A former heroin addict has posted a shocking before-and-after picture of herself in the hope of deterring others from a life of drug addiction.
Ginny Burton, mother of three, didn't think she would live to tell her story, but her 17th serious conviction was a ‘wakeup-call’ to turn her life around.
Ginny told KomoNews she was introduced to drugs at the age of six when her mother gave her marijuana. It only escalated from there, using Meth by age 12.
At 21 she started shooting heroin and describes herself as ‘hell on wheels’
To feed her addiction, she would rob Mexican drug dealers at gunpoint thinking she wouldn’t be caught by the cops because she was undocumented.
“I am the person you used to clutch your bag when I walked by you. I am the person that would randomly attack somebody in public” she told KomoNews.
Ginny collected 17 felonies all together for a mixture of assault and drug charges. Her children were removed from her care.
Her final arrest for driving a stolen vehicle in 2012 is the moment she told Komo ‘changed her life’
“I knew when he put the handcuffs on me and put me in his car, I knew my life was going to change and it was then, in that moment, that I made the decision to turn it around no matter what it took."
After completing a court-ordered drug program, Ginny decided to begin studying at South Seattle College.
Proving an exceptional student, she was accepted into Washington University where she later was the 2020 Truman Scholar for the state of Washington.
Ginny wrote on Facebook she hopes her story helps to create hope.
