Casey,

I can't begin to tell you how overjoyed I am for you and your son. You know, when everyone else gives up on a son or daughter, a mother's love goes on and on. Just look at Mary at the Cross. She had to see her beloved son suffer and die and she had known all along what his fate would be with the promise that he would live again.

So many people have said, "Just write her off, just let her go. She'll never change. She'll always be a druggie and a poor mother." Those words only serve to stir up the powerful protective hope and belief and love a mother has for her child.

I know you believe in your son. Chatty, I know you will never give up on your son. Dianne, I know you will never lose hope for your cousin.

They need someone to believe in them and if we can't or won't, if we give up on them, then they really are lost.

I believe in your son, casey, and in my daughter and that there is hope for all the bright, wonderful young people who fall prey to drugs and alcohol.

They are usually the most sensitive and the most vulnerable ones.