I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, and I was born in the city of Van Nuys, at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in the late 1980s, during the crack era. I am the oldest out of seven children, and we all miraculously have the same mom and dad. I’m Alex, then there’s Rhiannon, Ashley, Raymond, Daniel, Stevie, and then the youngest is Leland. Unfortunately, Rhiannon and I were born crack babies due to my mother's addictions to drugs and alcohol. I was born sick, and as I was going through withdrawal, I was shaking uncontrollably and had a lot of involuntary spasms. I was subsequently diagnosed with ADHD at a very early age. Unfortunately, my sister had it worse. She was born a couple of months premature, with Cerebral Palsy. She was so minute in size, that she fit in the palm of my dad's hand, and only weighed one pound. 

From an early age, I was all over the place, I was just wild and precocious. My first grade teacher, Ms. Winnick told my dad I was uncontrollable, so he took me to the hospital to get checked out, and that’s when they diagnosed me with ADHD. The next thing you know, as a six-year-old child, I’m now being forced to take Ritalin. I can just tell you right off the bat, it was horrible. The effects of that drug were bad. I was always sick and had no appetite. It would make me stay quiet all day and I would have no social life. It would be very difficult for me to interact with anybody, and as human beings, we're naturally social creatures. But, while I was on those drugs, I would just want to stay by myself. To be honest, the side effects felt very similar to being on Methamphetamines and this was all, so I would be a “good, and a well-behaved kid.” Eventually, by the time I hit middle school, I started taking other drugs to manage my ADHD, like Adderall and Concerta.

With my sister Rhiannon, usually from the cases that I've seen throughout my life with Cerebral Palsy, they have the mental and physical effects. God bless, and God willing, that she only faced the physical effects of that. Mentally, she is keen, and she is as sharp as a razor's edge. She literally just graduated from California State University of Northridge within the last year, and received her bachelor's degree - graduating with honors in Child Development. I’m close with all my siblings, and we all lived in the same household. My dad was the main provider, but my mom, on the other hand, was either in prison or out on the streets, dealing drugs, using drugs or strung out at home. And to be honest, I'd prefer her back on the streets or elsewhere than to have her at home with us.

My mom and my dad were both drug addicts and heavy alcoholics. But as soon as my dad found out that my mom was pregnant with me, he quit cold turkey. He stood in the middle of the street, and got on his knees and asked God for forgiveness. He begged him, and  implored him to please give him the strength, and ever since that day, my dad has never touched a drug or drank any alcohol. He sobered up, and took care of us. As for my mom, she is still an active user of anything and everything she can get her hands on.