One woman has shared her inspirational story on how she transformed herself from a jailed meth addict to a graduate of the University of Washington.
Last month, 48-year-old Ginny Burton shared a side-by-side post showing her 2005 mugshot next to a picture taken of her smiling on her graduation day. Burton captioned the Facebook post: "How about that for motivation?
"I honestly thought I'd die on a park bench with a needle in my arm or by gunshot to the head. I would've never in a million years thought my life would look the way it does today.
"Stop selling yourself short. You don't know what tomorrow might bring so you might consider starting today."
Ginny's post quickly amassed over 7,000 shares on the social media platform, and her inspirational story has now gone viral.
Speaking to ABC News affiliate KATU, Ginny told reporter Eric Johnson that she was born in Tacoma in 1972 as one of seven children. Her mother suffered from mental illness, and was also a drug dealer and addict.
When Ginny was four years old, her father was sent to prison for a number of armed robberies.
At six years old, her mother introduced her to marijuana. At 12 years old, she started using meth. At 14, she was smoking crack.
When she was 16, she was raped by a man who bought drugs from her mother. At 17, she attempted to take her own life for the first of many times.
By the age of 23, Ginny had two children and had married into an abusive relationship. She was also a heroin addict.
Speaking to KATU, Ginny said of her past life: "I am that person. I have 17 felony convictions. I am the person you used to clutch your bag when I walked by you. I am the person that would randomly attack somebody in public. I was not a savory person. Everybody was a victim, and everybody was prey."
Her last prison stay was in 2008 and lasted 33 months. After reaching the point where she would rather be dead than alive, Ginny revealed that each of the three times she went to state prison, she was given the chance to get clean and think about how she wanted to turn her life around.
However, Ginny didn't have to tools or support network to make this a reality, and she would quickly fall back into using drugs.
Ginny then credits December 5, 2012, as the day her life changed for the better.
Sitting in the back of a police car, Ginny had just been arrested after crashing a stolen truck.
After her charges were transferred to King County, Ginny begged to be placed into a Drug Diversion Court program. Fortunately, she received a treatment program at the Regional Justice Center and hasn't looked back.
Over the next seven years, Ginny went on to carry out social service work for the Post Prison Education Program and at a men's shelter called Lazarus.
She then started school, attending classes at South Seattle College.
Ginny says that being in classes surrounded by people much younger than her made her recognize how much time she had wasted in her life. Not only that, but she also realized that she was actually good at learning and enjoyed it.
A few years ago, Ginny was accepted into the University of Washington and in 2019, she was awarded a Martin Honor Scholarship to study political science.
During her time at university, Ginny excelled, becoming the 2020 Truman Scholar for the state of Washington.
Now, Ginny plans on using her degree to change the prison system so that addicts are supported while on the inside.
For now, Ginny's story is proof that hope is not lost on anybody, and that redemption and success are achievable for anyone.
Writing on Facebook, Ginny later posted: "Most of my journey was not graceful, however, it has been beautiful and TREMENDOUSLY painful. But, I would not change a moment of it. This is just the beginning for me. I share openly so others know there is hope for them to change."
She continued: "I am so grateful for where I am today. I was lucky enough to become involved with a non-profit that helped me not have to go to prison the 4th time and they stood beside me as I clawed my way out of my past. [...[ Sometimes that is all it took, a section of folks to tell me I am doing the right thing and to keep going."
