Our two sons grew up in N.C. on 32 acres of wooded land, an idyllic setting. Years later, Scott would thank us for bringing them up in the country and for allowing them to remain little kids, enjoying all the things that little country boys do: building forts, playing in the woods, swimming in the creek, etc.

We moved to Florida when Scott was 15. He was an extremely popular kid, incredibly good looking, well built with a wonderful personality and a drop dead gorgeous smile and beautiful huge brown eyes.

He and his brother were in a band. The girls would all scream when Scott came on stage.

All was well until he turned 17. On his 17th birthday one of his band mates gave him a line of cocaine for his "birthday present."

He could play just about any musical instrument and also enjoyed a brief experience as a professional writer.

He served a brief stint in the Navy where he was assigned Hospital Corpsman. This piqued his interest in medicine. Eventually he went on to become an EMT, graduating first in his class.

He then took the EMT to Paramedic program at our local community college and really loved being a Paramedic. Then took the Paramedic to RN program, becoming a Registered Nurse in one year.

He was an outstanding nurse and showed so much compassion for his patients. His ambition was to be a physician. He had been accepted into the ARNP program (Associate Registered Nurse Practitioner) where he would have seen his own patients. The next step would have been physician.

He accomplished all of this while suffering from the disease of addiction. He hated who he had become because of what the addiction had done to him. He said to me, "Mom, nobody wakes up one day and decides to be a drug addict."

A few nights before Scott died he was visiting us, sick from drugs. He was lying on the couch with his head in my lap and he reached up and put his arm around my neck and said "I love you mom."

He always told us he loved us. In fact, that same night he wrote on our bulletin board "I love you" and drew a smiley.

Our lives will never be the same. The loss is always there, always a reminder of something so precious in your life, now gone forever.

My son lives in my heart, in my thoughts constantly. I will miss him until my dying day. He lived! He was a beautiful person! He loved! And he had a Disease!

If you know of someone who is an addict, please don't turn your back on them or look down on them.

They really don't want to be who they are!

Sherry McGinnis

For more detailed information about Scott McGinnis, please visit here.