Travis was such an amazing, intelligent and loving person. He had hopes and dreams for his future that were unique from his horrible addiction. He dreamed of being free from his addiction. He dreamed of owning his own construction company and building his own home.

He loved the outdoors: he enjoyed taking walks, fishing and camping. The only thing he enjoyed more than the outdoors was getting comfortable on the couch and watching new movies. He loved his children, even though he was not a full time dad like he wanted to be. He still spent time with his kids as much as he could.

There are so many things I loved about him! He had this ability to make me smile no matter how upset I was. It was amazing to me that even though he was so immersed in his addiction, he still had the desire to quit.

Travis had such a big heart and could forgive people with ease. He made it so easy for me to fall in love with him! You couldn't help but like the guy. He was so full of personality and charm. One minute he could make you fall off your chair laughing and the next minute he could get you in deep thought about religion, politics or life.

I never finished high school and Travis encouraged me to get my GED. When I got it, he was so proud of me and he came to my graduation sober and cheered louder than anyone. That’s the way Travis was. Even with his severe addiction, he didn't lose his ability to care for others and he wanted me to succeed.

When it came down to it, he was always there for me when I needed him. He was a kind and thoughtful man who hated his addiction and how it affected those he loved.  I loved him for who he was as a person, which was completely different than who he was as an addict.

When I met Travis, he made no effort to lie to me about his addiction. I thought I could deal with it and that it wouldn't cause a problem in our relationship. A big part of me thought I could help him, I could not have been more wrong.

When we first met, he calmed down on his pill addiction and he drank a lot to relieve the withdrawals, but then his addiction refused to be subdued and things got out of control. Things started to get worse when his ex girlfriend, the woman he was with for 9 years and the mother of his three children, died with her sister in a car accident. He took it very hard and began using more and more to hide the pain and his regrets. 

He was an IV drug user and his favorite drugs were OxyContin, morphine, dilaudids and Fentanyl. There were times in our years together that he would seem to be getting better and then he would run into one of his "toxic" so called friends and they would throw it in his face. He wasn't strong enough to say no. He would use and gone were his days clean.

Things started to fall apart between us, we would fight and he would stay gone for days on end. I know now that he would stay away because he didn't want me to see him all messed up and because he needed to be around the people who had the drugs. But I didn't see it that way at the time. Either way, his addiction took him away from me and those that loved him dearly.  

In 2007, things got worse in many ways. His addiction began to take over more and more. In the summer of last year, he ended up in the ICU for pneumonia and had a difficult time recovering from it.