“My story starts at the age of eight, my brother was diagnosed with a tumor in his eye and for many years we coped with that. It was benign for the first two years and then it got malignant. He went into remission in the 6th year of battling the cancer and lost his eye, but that didn’t stop him. He continued the family tradition of entering the military and joined Virginia Tech for ROTC. They called him Popeye. The cancer resurfaced again and he lost his life at the age of 19 — a week before my 17th birthday.

Four years later, I was 21 and getting ready to be married but life had different plans. My fiancé Amanda and my 3 year old step daughter, Arriana, who I always thought of as my own, were out on a windy road, they slipped off the road and hit 4 trees. The 4th tree came down on the car that they had just bought that day and I lost them to the car crash.

After experiencing these loses, it took a toll on me and I turned to unhealthy coping mechanisms. But it has been 6-7 months now that I have been completely sober and I just quit drinking the other day.

We always related the people we lost to birds. My brother’s was an eagle and my fiancé’s was an iris. On my way to the crash site before I left Virginia, there was an eagle and an iris flying right above my car next to each other. So I knew they are looking over me in a way. Life is getting better, I’m here in LA studying acting and eventually I plan to make a movie on my journey.”