JD Vance celebrates mother's major health milestone: ‘I am so proud of you’
After decades of struggling with addiction, JD Vance's mother has marked a major milestone.
On Monday, April 7, Vice President Vance led a celebration at the White House for Beverly Aikins, 64, who has achieved a decade of sobriety.
"This year marks my mom’s 10th year of sobriety, and I'm grateful that we were able to celebrate in the White House with our family," Vance wrote in a post on X, sharing several photos of the celebration.
"Mom, I am so proud of you."
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Several friends and family members attended the celebration in the Roosevelt Room.
Vance spoke about his pride in his mother’s achievement and noted that she was the kind of person people could rely on, as reported by the Washington Examiner.
"That’s what addiction took away. But that’s what recovery has given back, is that you are a person that others can rely on," he said, according to the same source.
"And I know you’re an inspiration to a lot of people in the recovery and addiction community. So, from the bottom of my heart and speaking for the whole family, we love you."
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The vice president presented his mother with one of the president’s "challenge coins" to mark the occasion.
Vance, who grew up in Middletown, Ohio, and the Appalachian town of Jackson, Kentucky, spoke on the presidential campaign trail about the impact of Aikins’ addiction on his life, noting that his grandmother, "Mamaw," stepped in to fill the gap.
"She raised me in part because my own mother struggled with addiction for a big chunk of my early life," he said during the vice presidential debate in October.
Aikins’ addiction began with a legitimate prescription for medication, but led to her stealing drugs from her patients, as detailed in his bestselling book, "Hillbilly Elegy."
Eventually, she became addicted to heroin.
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Throughout his childhood, Vance witnessed many cycles of his mother’s drug abuse, volatile behavior and failed stints in rehab, he wrote.
Even so, he remained committed to helping her to his best ability.
"It was the eternal hope, the thing to which I couldn’t say no," Vance wrote in his book.
"That hope drove me to voluntarily attend those many N.A. meetings, consume books on addiction, and participate in Mom’s treatment to the fullest extent that I could."
"I knew that a mother could love her son despite the grip of addiction," he also wrote. "I knew that my family loved me, even when they struggled to take care of themselves."
Today, Aikins works at Seacrest Recovery Center, a substance abuse treatment center in Cincinnati, Ohio, which lists her as a nurse on its website.
Last October, she spoke with the Washington Examiner about overcoming her struggles with substance abuse.
"I want people who are struggling with addiction or who have family members who are struggling with addiction to know that recovery is possible, and you get back so much more from recovery than you ever think you can get back," she said.
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According to Vance's office, Aikins' advice to those struggling with substance abuse issues is "to reach out, to try to get help, and that recovery is hard, but it’s so worth it."
The most recent statistics from the United States National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) show that 48.5 million (16.7%) of Americans 12 and older battled a substance-use disorder in the past year.
Fox News Digital's Diana Stancy contributed reporting.