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OVERDOSE Heroin addict mom turns her life around Judge says her story was the highlight of his day Comment By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Follow @@VickieAldous MailTribune.com By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Follow @@VickieAldous Posted Jan. 5, 2016 at 5:36 PM Updated Jan 5, 2016 at 5:52 PM By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Follow @@VickieAldous Posted Jan. 5, 2016 at 5:36 PM Updated Jan 5, 2016 at 5:52 PM » Social News Nine months ago, Gretchen King put a car seat holding her baby daughter on the ground, then went into a garage to smoke heroin. After inhaling four times, she collapsed from respiratory arrest. A woman who was using heroin with King called for help. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was attempted at the scene, and then the woman was rushed to Rogue Valley Medical Center, according to Medford police. "I was pronounced deceased upon arrival," King said of her April 2015 overdose. Doctors were able to revive her. On Tuesday, she told a Jackson County Circuit Court judge that the episode put her on a path to redemption. "I was really distraught," King, 35, said about her return to consciousness in the hospital. "I was so disappointed in what I'd done. I made a really bad choice that day. I put my baby in danger. If I hadn't been with someone, she could have been alone in her car seat for how long?" After being released from the hospital, King spent 18 days in the Jackson County Jail. Her baby was sent to live in Roseburg with King's father. The Jackson County District Attorney's Office charged King with possession of heroin, endangering the welfare of a minor and recklessly endangering another person. For the sake of her baby, King decided she had to turn her life around. She had already overdosed on heroin multiple times. Her first overdose occurred well before she had her baby. She landed in a hospital intensive care unit with a tube down her throat. King went from jail to the Mom's Program, an inpatient residential treatment program in Medford for pregnant and parenting women run by OnTrack, Inc. Mothers are allowed to have their babies and children with them. After 21 days apart, King was reunited with her baby at the Mom's Program. "It was an amazing reunion. It was very emotional," she said. King has since completed the inpatient addiction treatment program and continues to voluntarily attend weekly outpatient sessions. She has become active with Medford's Family Nurturing Center, which helps create stable families and healthy children, and she hopes to work with kids through a church she has joined. After years of not working and battling addiction, King has found a job. The DA's office agreed to drop the heroin possession and endangering the welfare of a minor charges against her. On Tuesday as she held her baby in her arms, King pleaded guilty to recklessly endangering another person and was sentenced to 11 months probation. Her baby played with King's ponytail and smiled at the audience in the courtroom. "I am so proud of this woman," said defense attorney Alyssa Bartholomew. "She's been clean and sober for 261 days." Bartholomew said King has done everything anybody could ask of her to recover from her addiction and become a better mother for her baby. "She came to my office the first time as a broken person," Bartholomew said. "She's really a model for recovery." After sentencing one person after another in cases ranging from sex crimes to a repeat offender who was evading child support payments by refusing to find a job, Jackson County Circuit Judge Lorenzo Mejia said King's case was a highlight of Tuesday morning's sentencing session. "It's hard to call a sentencing an inspiring moment, but it's not a bad way to end sentencing today," Mejia said. Staff reporter Vickie Aldous can be reached at 541-776-4486 or [email protected] . Follow her at www.twitter.com/VickieAldous . By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Follow @@VickieAldous MailTribune.com By Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune Follow @@VickieAldous Posted Jan. 5, 2016 at 5:36 PM Updated Jan 5, 2016 at 5:52 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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