About Sally - The Untold Story

Today I had a very interesting conversation with a patient. She is a 45-year old who has seen more than her fair share of hard ache and hard times. She has been living on the streets for the past 4-years and surviving as best she can through sex work and pan handling. She has a daily, unremitting addiction to alcohol – and has only recently freed herself from the bonds of methamphetamine.

I could probably type a paragraph like the preceding for a number of patients that I am fortunate enough to serve – but what makes Sally’s (not her real name) story so compelling is the untold elements of her life. You see – Sally has been working the streets of Portland, selling her body, under the direction of her husband. When economic times became desperate, Sally’s husband demanded that she start working the wee hours of the morning to help keep their drug habit alive.

Sally told me of the pain she feels getting into cars with men she fears will never drive her back to her street corner. She told me of the desperation she felt in staying with a man, her husband, for whom she felt such great contempt. Sally told me of the fear that she felt about her life – the life she has been living in an almost catatonic state, a fear that her life would never change.

Today Sally told me of her hope. She told me that she met a man though her work. A man who frequently came to see her - “and not just for sex.” A man who wanted to take her away from all of her sorrows. She told me that he is serving in the military and would soon return from “Kuwait” to buy a home for them to live in. She told me that he is an honorable man who once paid her husband to take her to dinner – “because he cares about me.” She said she planned to divorce her husband as soon as her “knight” returned. She told me of her great hope that this “man would really take care” of her and protect her.

I could probably convince myself that I helped Sally today. I could tell myself that the medication I provided for her infection and the time I spent listening and caring, helped to provide her with the respect and nurturing that she deserves. Yet – I would be stating these things from the comfort of my warm home, after having eaten a comfortable meal and spent time with my wonderful wife. I would be lying.

For the only true help I can offer to Sally is my continuous fight to try and create more opportunities for people like her to break free of the oppressive bonds of poverty and crippling strain of dysfunctional relationships. The only true help I can offer Sally is to bring more attention to the plight of people like her to a wider audience - so that we can build a future that supports, honors and nurtures all of our brothers and sisters.

My hope, the hope that I bring to Sally, is that we can all work together to create a world that cares so deeply about our communities that we no longer allow people like Sally to suffer in silence.

Today I had a very interesting conversation with a patient . . . and she changed my life.