Loving, giver, huge-heart,
Spiritual, fun, smart
From the time she started school Kelsey was a straight A student. She was outgoing and happy with a contagious smile and a lot of friends. She took tap dancing lessons, was a gifted piano player and was on the swim team. She loved sports and was very good at most of them, except soccer. As her mother laughingly said: “she could not run.”
She loved being around family and friends and going with them for coffee. She also loved to watch scary movies though she was afraid of the dark and the movies scared her a lot. She wasn’t very expressive outwardly, but she liked to write and it was important to her to keep a journal of her thoughts.
Kelsey was spiritual and attended a Christian school until 8th grade. During that time she took it upon herself to read the Bible from front to back; it took a couple years, but she stayed with it. She went to a community college majoring in criminal justice and planned to transfer to a four-year college and then to law school.
She was elated when she became a big sister at the age of eight and always wanted to be a Mom. She eventually became a mother to her son, Anthony, and “loved that little boy with her whole everything.” She considered her son her biggest accomplishment in life. Kelsey’s mother is now raising Anthony and says “he is like ten kids in one.” He is much like Kelsey “but with way more energy. I see a lot of good things in him from Kelsey, he is a smart kid and he has that laugh and that smile. We talk about her all the time.”
Her mother misses time with her daughter, hearing her laugh and having coffee with her. Her mother has changed since Kelsey’s addiction: “I went through a lot with her the last 10 years, but it taught me to never give up on people. You really learn how much grit you’ve got when fighting for someone’s life. I have had to step up and dig deep.” She now enjoys the little things more and has a lot of empathy for those going through the same thing.
She takes time, when not busy raising Anthony, to listen to others’ stories about how addiction has affected them. “It is good therapy for both of us, I understand what they are going through.”
Kelsey’s mother, Dana Moreland, was interviewed for this profile.
March 5, 1990 – May 2, 2015
Age 25
Lived with Addiction for 10 years
