Healing Scarred Hearts: A Family's Story of Addiction, Loss, and Finding Light

This is the story of Hayden Hoemke, who died at age twenty two due to a serious drug addiction, and his devastated family in the years following his passing. Emotional, raw and gripping, this family memoir serves as a wake-up call to America about the opioid epidemic sweeping the country, and as a symbol of hope to others experiencing similar loss.

In this emotional memoir, Susán Hoemke divulges the heart-wrenching story of her son Hayden's eight-year battle with drug addiction, and his tragic death at age twenty two. Through the pain of losing a child, Susán unflinchingly relates the crimes that her son's desperation for a fix drove him to commit, and how the mental and physical impact of the drugs on his body turned her happy, creative son into a stranger in their home. The years surrounding Hayden's death have been some of the most difficult in the family's life, his addiction not only affecting him but all those around him. Rebuilding their home and family, and attempting to see light in the darkest days they'd ever experienced proved to be an incredibly difficult effort, but not impossible. Hoemke hopes that her family's story will serve as a wake-up call to people everywhere about the drug epidemic across this country, and as a song of hope for those suffering through what her family has.