Cheryl Was A Heroin Addict. Now She's Taking Plunge In Asbury.

Cheryl Semiz could have died. Now healthy, she's going to take a plunge into cold water.

Semiz is a Daytop Academy Alumna and volunteer and participant in Daytop New Jersey’s Plunge to Recovery into the Atlantic Ocean taking place on Sat., Feb 16th at the 4th Ave. Beach in Asbury Park.

Daytop Academy in Mendham was the first of many stops in Semiz’s recovery from her heroin use disorder. She’d been forced to enter Daytop NJ’s program by the juvenile court system when she was 18. While it took her a few more years, and several other programs, to finally get clean, she has a strong affinity for Daytop.

“In hindsight, I would have saved myself a lot of hurt if I’d been ready to listen to my teachers and therapists at Daytop, but I’m grateful they showed me love, support, and a willingness to help me when no one else would,” she said.

Cheryl, now 26, volunteers regularly for Daytop NJ, most recently on the Plunge for Recovery committee - an event to raise funds and awareness taking place in Asbury Park on Sat. Feb. 16th. She’s also a member of Team Nancee Pants, which has already raised $539.

Today, Cheryl loves her life, she says. She turned her recovery into her passion as the director of marketing for Garden State Treatment Centers in Sparta, NJ.

She says emphatically that she’s not anonymous; she shares her story with whoever will listen because she never knows when someone will hear her story and be inspired to seek treatment.

Daytop photo