Gracee Poorman grew up in Franklin County, the daughter of once-successful people whose lives were shattered by addiction. Gracee’s father had been a boat salesman and her mother owned a dog grooming business but both were battling addictions to opioids, alcohol, and other drugs by the time she was born.

During Gracee’s childhood, both her parents were in and out of detox programs and jail. Along the way, her mother sold almost everything out of their house to pay for her addiction, down to the carpet and the refrigerator. As a child, Gracee remembers time spent sleeping on a dirty concrete floor.

After her parents broke up, Gracee lived with her father, but his addiction continued thanks in part to several back surgeries that fueled his need for pain pills. When Gracee broke her arm, her father trained her to fake pain to her doctors so they would prescribe her additional pain meds.

Left on her own, Gracee started working at a young age to support herself. At one point as a teenager she forged her mother’s signature just so she could get an apartment and have a place to live. When Gracee turned eighteen, her mother survived a near-deadly fentanyl-laced overdose, only to die three months later after overdosing on cocaine and opiates. She was forty-six years old.

Eventually, Gracee’s work ethic and lifelong love for animals led her on a remarkable professional path. She successfully applied for a job at Ohio State’s College of Agriculture’s Swine Operations in Dublin in suburban Columbus. Despite, in her own words, knowing little or nothing about agriculture or livestock, she worked hard and became the Swine Operations facility manager. Today, Gracee works as both an auctioneer and a realtor. She’s also married and lives in Perry County with her husband and their three sons.

Gracee is a compassionate person who knows that her parents loved her and wanted more for themselves, but she also understands that what they were battling was bigger than them.

Gracee says that growing up, teachers and other role models helped her understand that her environment wasn’t normal and that other, more positive situations were possible. As a result, she’s passionate about working with children and young adults to support them as they journey on paths away from dysfunction and addiction. She wants them to know that while those paths can be lonely, there is always hope.

We thank Gracee for sharing her story with us. Her experience shows us the importance of understanding that addiction is a disease, that blaming those suffering from addiction helps no one, and that children growing up surrounded by drug addiction need all the support they can get.