"The big thing is drug addiction can happen to anyone. It doesn't discriminate. … How can you fight a battle if you don't know what you're up against?" Tammy Sienkiewicz said.

Sienkiewicz is the mother of Alexandria Sienkiewicz, who overdosed at 23 this April from heroin.Alexandria was a popular, well-liked high schooler who played volleyball and did gymnastics.She got involved with drugs when her boyfriend offered her some pills. But pills get expensive and many addicts often move onto heroin because it is cheaper.One night, Alexandria finally told her mom, "Mom, I do heroin and I'm going through withdrawal."Sienkiewicz didn't realize how hard withdrawal was for an addict. She left for work and got a phone call that Alexandria was trying to kill herself because the pain of withdrawal was so bad.Alexandria went to rehab in Michigan two days before Thanksgiving. The insurance company tried to kick her out after 30 days in rehab, but she knew she wasn't ready. The owner of the facility let Alexandria stay to help care for the horses on the property until mid-January.After returning home, Alexandria learned that her friend lost her sister. This friend was someone she used to get high with and the death triggered her addiction. Alexandria went to comfort that friend.Alexandria was found in her bedroom after an overdose on April 2. The autopsy report came back and Alexandria was not high on heroin, but rather fentanyl.Sienkiewicz tells the story of how she was going to check Alexandria's room for drugs. Alexandria laughed because she knew her mother would not know where to look for the drugs or what it looked like.Because of her experience, Sienkiewicz started Safer Streets for Tamaqua's Little Feet to help other people who are dealing with addiction, whether it was themselves or for someone they knew.The program helps people find rehab, get to rehab and get them whatever supplies they may need to recover."She tried to save everybody," Sienkiewicz said. "She just couldn't save herself."StatisticsThe Heroin and Opioid Prevention Education, or HOPE, works to educate the public about what addiction is and the warning signs.Eighty percent of heroin addicts start on prescription drugs, according to HOPE, which presented during a recent program at Panther Valley.Heroin has become so popular because there are misconceptions that smoking or snorting heroin is safer than injecting it intravenously. This is not the case, and every form is habit-forming.Pennsylvania is the second in the country in heroin deaths in 2015, only behind Kentucky.It is the leading cause of accidental deaths in the United States.The deaths from overdose jumped 23 percent from 2014 to 2015 in Pennsylvania.Heroin overdose deaths have been down since last year, but this is most likely because of the drug naloxone, which is known to reverse drug overdoses.Shane AreyShane Arey had a hard time fitting in since middle school.He made friends with older kids at a skate park who took him under their wing. When his friends started smoking cigarettes, so did he. They started using marijuana and so did Shane. He spent a lot of his teen years on probation.He started on oxycodone at 13.The month that Shane died, he overdosed four times and was reversed with naloxone.Shane was staying at a friend's house the night he died. The friend's dad saw Shane slumped over in the basement and told his son to get him out.His friend drove around with Shane for a couple of hours, then put him on the porch of his mom's house after robbing him of his wallet, shoes and belt.Shane was dead by the time he was at his mother's house.The signsHeroin addicts use a multitude of different tools to feed their addiction and hide the drugs and paraphernalia.When heroin is used intravenously, the user will mix the powder with water and draw it out with a syringe. They will use cotton balls or cotton swabs to "clean" the heroin of dirt. Spoons are a common tool to use. The heroin will be mixed and heated from underneath to smoke. Aerosol cans are also popular.The drugs can be hidden in shoes, such as in the tongues on sneakers or in the soles; in sections of jeans where the belt will go through; and the caps in deodorant or highlighters.Many of the people who spoke and told their story in the HOPE program said they grew up with a good family, had good grades and "did everything right."The heroin epidemic can affect anybody. Middle-class white women are the most susceptible demographic.OverdoseAn overdose happens because the drug slows a person's breathing so much that they stop breathing.The person will be pale and clammy, their nails or lips will look blue, they will be limp, their breathing will be slowed or stopped and their heartbeat will be slow or stopped.Naloxone reverses overdoses because it takes the heroin off the receptors and replaces them with naloxone. A person can actually overdose again, without taking any more drugs, after receiving naloxone. The naloxone could wear off and the heroin will go right back onto the neurons.It is important to recognize the signs of addiction. Nodding off is a common sign of addiction, as well as sleeping. The person will become isolated, lose weight and throw up.Another common sign is "pinned out" pupils. Heroin makes the pupils constrict and become very small, like the size of a pin.