FOUR months ago, Aimee Zardo woke to find herself alone and fighting for her life in hospital after overdosing on alcohol for the sixth time in two months.

“There were several other elderly women there, dying of old age, and their families were with them, it was peaceful,” Aimee, of Jerrabomberra, says.

“Then I was in the corner, half their age, fighting for my life – yet I had done it to myself.”

Aimee describes it as the lowest point of a seven-year drug and alcohol addiction, which spurred from postnatal depression, the death of her father and moving to Australia from New York with her husband and son.

“After the birth of my son I started to panic and the fear of raising him wrong just took over,” she says.

“I discovered that alcohol and drugs would relieve that pain… I thought I could control it, but the more I tried, the more it controlled me.”

A few drinks to relax gradually spiralled to “countless” glasses a day, and drugs quickly followed. Then one day Aimee’s husband came home to find her lying unconscious on the floor, moments from death.

“If he was an hour later, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now,” she says.

“I even ended up attempting to take my own life to end the misery because I could not get out of the dark hole I was in.”

It wasn’t until she sought help from The Salvation Army in Canberra four months ago, that she finally found a way out.

“I came to The Salvation Army broken, really down to no hope at all, but they saw a flicker of light in me, and they grabbed on to that,” Aimee says.

“I didn’t even expect that something could save me. I figured it was the end of me, and the end of being a mum to my son. With amazing compassion and kindness, and non-judgmental understanding, they’ve guided me out of that darkness.

“I’m absolutely amazed. If it wasn’t for The Salvation Army, I’d probably be dead.”

Aimee wants to use her experience to promote the The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Appeal, which raises money for programs that help people like her.

“I want people to know addiction is a progressive disease, it doesn’t discriminate,” Aimee says.

“It’s the lady next door, like me. The wife, the mother, the daughter. It takes a hold of you and so many other women suffer in silence because they’re so afraid to come out and say it, because of that stigma that it’s a mother.”

Aimee is currently devoting her time to speaking at events run by The Salvation Army and plans to study counselling to help other addicts.

For now, she is focusing on recovery and piecing her life back together, after “losing everything” from the addiction, including her husband.

“The Salvation Army is working with both my husband and son to educate them on my illness as it was obviously incredibly difficult on them too, and I do hope for a reconciliation,” Aimee says.

“Today I feel a sense of peace, I feel capable of getting on with my life, that my son can finally have his mother back, that I’m actually worth every breath I take on this planet.”

The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Appeal will be held throughout May and its annual doorknock takes place over the weekend of May 25-26. Donations to 137258 or salvos.org.au