MY DARKEST FEARS EXPLODED

when I found Steven in the center of the

bathroom floor, naked, his body bent at an impossible angle.

He was soaked in a pool of blood and mucus, his face smashed beyond recognition.

I reached for my son and almost slipped on some pebbles strewn across the tile floor.

Then I realized they were Steven's teeth.

I dropped to my knees, crying hysterically.

I heard a groan, then..."Ma."

Adler, Deanna

Deanna Adler was born in 1941 to Norman and Lillie Scheiner. She lost most of her family to the holocaust in Poland. After an abusive marriage, Deanna moved from Cleveland to L.A. where she raised three sons with her second husband Mel.

For the last thirty years, Deanna has campaigned against drug abuse appearing on Dr. Drew's celebrity rehab and writing "Ask Deanna" columns in Kerrang! and One Life magazines where she gave honest, hard-earned advice to teenagers on three continents.

Sweet Child Of Mine is her first book, a gripping memoir of her personal battle to save her son Steven, original drummer and co-founder of Guns N' Roses, from crack and heroin addiction.

Lawrence J. Spagnola is the coauthor of Rodney King's memoir The Riot Within, and the New York Times Bestseller My Appetite for Destruction. He is the Christopher Award winning writer of the Emmy winning Golden Globe nominated holocaust film The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler. He is a Harvard graduate and a Rockefeller Fellow.