The Noel Family's New Beginning
Donation protected
This is one of those experiences in life that's hard to explain and I'm not sure exactly where to start, so I'll just jump right in.
In early April our family became aware of a young Mother who had given birth to a baby boy in the midst of some personal challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic. Mom and baby were in need of a safe environment to call home along with 24-hour monitoring
for a time while they got some things sorted out. We deliberated on taking this little family into our home and ultimately decided we wanted to try and help in whatever way we could.
On April 16th, we drove to the Woodlands and picked Ariel and Mykel up from the hospital to bring them to our home. It was a surreal experience, being screened before we could enter the
hospital, meeting this new young mother and her baby for the first time and validating in a sense that if there was ever a time to help, it was now.
It’s been an incredible experience watching this little family grow, evolve and become part of our own family. We are grateful for the opportunity to be part of their journey and thankful to the many great friends who've contributed and supported us and this family along the way. We've fallen in love with these two and know their future looks bright. Like all of us, they can't do it alone and it takes a village. By lifting this family up we can change their future and in
turn they will help others in the future.
Our goal for this page is to raise funds to get this family started out on the right foot! They will not be given any cash directly. Instead, we will assist them with the most necessary items including:
- Rental deposit and application fees
- Deposit for electricity/internet
- Living room/kitchen furniture
- Household items, dishes/toaster/towels/silverware, etc
- Car repairs/tires for Ariel's car so she can transport Mykel safely
- Tuition for Ariel to complete her Associates of Paralegal Studies (she has 6 months left)
- Starting a college fund for Mykel
Please read more to learn about Ariel and her story:
ARIEL’S STORY
"My childhood was not easy. I grew up with little encouragement, support, or parenting in general. My parents weren’t equipped to care for me, emotionally or physically.
By the age of 10, I began self-harming behavior and as I came into adulthood things just got worse. I was 18 when I was introduced to LSD and Xanax and addiction began to take hold. This is also
when I experienced my first abusive relationship where I used drugs to numb myself from my reality. That relationship left me severely underweight and dependent on Xanax.
One abusive boyfriend led to another, until finally I met the person that would change who I am for the rest of my life. He was an opiate addict.. Drugs made him abusive and the abuse only increased in severity. I often feared for my life and the emotional and mental abuse became unbearable, and I began using opiates to numb myself from the abuse, which eventually led me to my addiction. Once I left the relationship I was stuck with an addiction I couldn’t handle or maintain.
My future would begin to change when I met Damon, the first person to show me respect or believe in me. He was the first man I’d met that treated me like a human being, not a punching
bag. He didn't judge me for my past or my demons with addiction. Instead he wanted to see me sober and succeeding, he begged for me to quit using and tried everything he could to help get
me well.
Sadly, I couldn’t yet tackle my addiction, despite Damon’s love and support, when I noticed my body had started to grow. We were both shocked and unprepared. I had no means to raise a child
and still struggled with a monster addiction.
I couldn’t find an affordable maintenance program or rehab so I tried to decrease my opiate usage to keep my baby safer, while avoiding the dangerous withdrawal symptoms a total elimination of opiates might cause my baby to experience. I was filled with guilt and shame and didn’t know what to do, but I knew this baby would change everything.
On March 29th at 8:50am, our beautiful son Mykel was born. Damon and I committed, in that moment, to do whatever it takes to make things right for Mykel. I vowed to do anything and
everything I could if it meant I got to raise my son, so I got to work.
A day after I was discharged I made upwards of 50 phone calls to shelters and rehab centers and two days later I was in a detox program at a rehab center, where I stayed for seven days, successfully detoxing. They say people who struggle with addiction often find it helpful to replace one addiction with another
healthier addiction and my new addiction was staying clean and providing a healthy and happy life for my son. My addiction was beating the odds, no matter what.
My recovery from this disease of addiction is something that I have undying passion for, and will pursue for the rest of my life. As a result of all the hard work I put in those first few weeks of Mykel’s life, I built up a brand new support system of experienced moms who would stand beside me and encourage me as I created and implemented a sobriety plan and started to build a future for my son.
Through a wonderful and inspiring women named Nicki (my Guardian Angel) I met Jodi, who I had never even met in person. Her family opened up their home to Mykel, Damon and I
so we could focus on my sobriety and parenthood in a supported way. Now they’re like my family. They encourage me and support me in more ways than just a place to stay. They believe in me and have helped me to find myself again, after everything I’ve been through. Mostly, they support me in being a mother to my son, and help me set goals for my future. Because of all this support and belief in my abilities as a woman and a mother, I’m finally looking
forward to the future! In the short term, I've started doing web design again and hope to start a small side job building websites and running a blog that helps inspire other women through my
story. I am also looking for virtual work in tech support or customer care so that I can stay home with my son while pursuing a career and furthering myself.
I have big goals for myself again: I want to go back to school to finish my paralegal degree. I also have an a steadfast focus on addiction recovery programs and want to reach out and help coach others on Zoom through NA and AA meetings and eventually get my licensed chemical dependency counseling (LCDC) license so that I can provide for women the help and guidance my counselors have provided me. I want to be able to sustain living as a family, on our own and I want to provide a place for my son to call home.
Most importantly, I've learned I was meant to be a mother to my son. I was meant to go through this journey so that I could help others. I know it won’t always be easy but I have the support
system and resources now that I always lacked before to navigate the hard days. I am never going back to that lifestyle. I'm committed to improving my quality of life and helping other
women who have faced similar life obstacles and challenges with addiction that I have.
Most importantly, I've learned I was meant to be a mother to my son, and go through this journey so that I could help others. I am never going back to that lifestyle, I'm committed to improving my quality of life and helping other women who have faced similar life obstacles and challenges with addiction that I have."
In early April our family became aware of a young Mother who had given birth to a baby boy in the midst of some personal challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic. Mom and baby were in need of a safe environment to call home along with 24-hour monitoring
for a time while they got some things sorted out. We deliberated on taking this little family into our home and ultimately decided we wanted to try and help in whatever way we could.
On April 16th, we drove to the Woodlands and picked Ariel and Mykel up from the hospital to bring them to our home. It was a surreal experience, being screened before we could enter the
hospital, meeting this new young mother and her baby for the first time and validating in a sense that if there was ever a time to help, it was now.
It’s been an incredible experience watching this little family grow, evolve and become part of our own family. We are grateful for the opportunity to be part of their journey and thankful to the many great friends who've contributed and supported us and this family along the way. We've fallen in love with these two and know their future looks bright. Like all of us, they can't do it alone and it takes a village. By lifting this family up we can change their future and in
turn they will help others in the future.
Our goal for this page is to raise funds to get this family started out on the right foot! They will not be given any cash directly. Instead, we will assist them with the most necessary items including:
- Rental deposit and application fees
- Deposit for electricity/internet
- Living room/kitchen furniture
- Household items, dishes/toaster/towels/silverware, etc
- Car repairs/tires for Ariel's car so she can transport Mykel safely
- Tuition for Ariel to complete her Associates of Paralegal Studies (she has 6 months left)
- Starting a college fund for Mykel
Please read more to learn about Ariel and her story:
ARIEL’S STORY
"My childhood was not easy. I grew up with little encouragement, support, or parenting in general. My parents weren’t equipped to care for me, emotionally or physically.
By the age of 10, I began self-harming behavior and as I came into adulthood things just got worse. I was 18 when I was introduced to LSD and Xanax and addiction began to take hold. This is also
when I experienced my first abusive relationship where I used drugs to numb myself from my reality. That relationship left me severely underweight and dependent on Xanax.
One abusive boyfriend led to another, until finally I met the person that would change who I am for the rest of my life. He was an opiate addict.. Drugs made him abusive and the abuse only increased in severity. I often feared for my life and the emotional and mental abuse became unbearable, and I began using opiates to numb myself from the abuse, which eventually led me to my addiction. Once I left the relationship I was stuck with an addiction I couldn’t handle or maintain.
My future would begin to change when I met Damon, the first person to show me respect or believe in me. He was the first man I’d met that treated me like a human being, not a punching
bag. He didn't judge me for my past or my demons with addiction. Instead he wanted to see me sober and succeeding, he begged for me to quit using and tried everything he could to help get
me well.
Sadly, I couldn’t yet tackle my addiction, despite Damon’s love and support, when I noticed my body had started to grow. We were both shocked and unprepared. I had no means to raise a child
and still struggled with a monster addiction.
I couldn’t find an affordable maintenance program or rehab so I tried to decrease my opiate usage to keep my baby safer, while avoiding the dangerous withdrawal symptoms a total elimination of opiates might cause my baby to experience. I was filled with guilt and shame and didn’t know what to do, but I knew this baby would change everything.
On March 29th at 8:50am, our beautiful son Mykel was born. Damon and I committed, in that moment, to do whatever it takes to make things right for Mykel. I vowed to do anything and
everything I could if it meant I got to raise my son, so I got to work.
A day after I was discharged I made upwards of 50 phone calls to shelters and rehab centers and two days later I was in a detox program at a rehab center, where I stayed for seven days, successfully detoxing. They say people who struggle with addiction often find it helpful to replace one addiction with another
healthier addiction and my new addiction was staying clean and providing a healthy and happy life for my son. My addiction was beating the odds, no matter what.
My recovery from this disease of addiction is something that I have undying passion for, and will pursue for the rest of my life. As a result of all the hard work I put in those first few weeks of Mykel’s life, I built up a brand new support system of experienced moms who would stand beside me and encourage me as I created and implemented a sobriety plan and started to build a future for my son.
Through a wonderful and inspiring women named Nicki (my Guardian Angel) I met Jodi, who I had never even met in person. Her family opened up their home to Mykel, Damon and I
so we could focus on my sobriety and parenthood in a supported way. Now they’re like my family. They encourage me and support me in more ways than just a place to stay. They believe in me and have helped me to find myself again, after everything I’ve been through. Mostly, they support me in being a mother to my son, and help me set goals for my future. Because of all this support and belief in my abilities as a woman and a mother, I’m finally looking
forward to the future! In the short term, I've started doing web design again and hope to start a small side job building websites and running a blog that helps inspire other women through my
story. I am also looking for virtual work in tech support or customer care so that I can stay home with my son while pursuing a career and furthering myself.
I have big goals for myself again: I want to go back to school to finish my paralegal degree. I also have an a steadfast focus on addiction recovery programs and want to reach out and help coach others on Zoom through NA and AA meetings and eventually get my licensed chemical dependency counseling (LCDC) license so that I can provide for women the help and guidance my counselors have provided me. I want to be able to sustain living as a family, on our own and I want to provide a place for my son to call home.
Most importantly, I've learned I was meant to be a mother to my son. I was meant to go through this journey so that I could help others. I know it won’t always be easy but I have the support
system and resources now that I always lacked before to navigate the hard days. I am never going back to that lifestyle. I'm committed to improving my quality of life and helping other
women who have faced similar life obstacles and challenges with addiction that I have.
Most importantly, I've learned I was meant to be a mother to my son, and go through this journey so that I could help others. I am never going back to that lifestyle, I'm committed to improving my quality of life and helping other women who have faced similar life obstacles and challenges with addiction that I have."
Organizer
Jodi Johnston-McNiven
Organizer
Cypress, TX