Bows, Hairspray, and Heroin: How a Drunk Driver Took Rachel’s Before

For The Hayters: The Stories We Survive · Oct 11, 2026 · 55m

Trigger Warning: This episode discusses traumatic brain injury, drunk driving, substance use and addiction (including heroin), overdose, sexual assault, not caring whether you live or die, psychiatric hospitalization, a serious car crash, and the overdose death of a close friend.

At 15, Rachel was flying through the air at Worlds. Cheer wasn't her hobby. It was her whole life. Then one summer evening, a drunk driver ran a stop sign and hit her while she was crossing on her bike. She jumped up and told everyone she was fine.

She wasn't. The brain injury nobody could see took her grades, her…