FASD Success Stories
Countless individuals and families thriving with FASD have walked this life bearing burdens, facing challenges, building strength, and overcoming in ways that inspire us all. This page is dedicated to these powerful people who have powerful stories to tell.
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YOUR STORY BELONGS HERE!
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Use the CONTACT PAGE to share your story.
Meet Nury van Beers
Nury van Beers, 37, was diagnosed with FASD at 32. Born in Bogota, Colombia, she was adopted at four and grew up in the Netherlands where she still resides today. Despite a challenging upbringing marked by dysfunction, school struggles, and multiple forms of abuse, she bravely battled addiction, undergoing rehab multiple times. Her life changed during her final rehab, where she met her husband, who understood her differences. His living perspective of autism and ADHD helped her view herself as not broken but in need of understanding.
Becoming a mother (x2!) and reconnecting with her birth mother brought her joy. She authored a book about her experiences with FASD, motherhood, and CPTSD, emphasizing that recovery is ongoing. Nury is a self-advocate for FASD in the Netherlands, serving as an advisor, writer, and collaborator with healthcare professionals to raise awareness and promote compassionate conversations about FASD, aiming to reduce judgment and stigma. Nury is also a valued member of the Adult Leadership Collaborative of the FASD Changemakers (ALC).
Nury uses her gift of writing to share what it means to persevere and fight well amid struggles. Read on for the poignant reminder that we have the power to break the cycle of generational trauma.
"Earlier, I could never have dared to share my story, but now I am doing it anyway because I realise that I am actually proud of it!
It took a very long time before I could finally say that I am proud of myself. I thought people would think I was full of ego and that it was just a way to make myself look better than I actually am. I learned to only say something loving about myself when I truly 'deserved' it. And that meant doing well in school, always being good at home, not expressing my emotions because that is seen as “too dramatic” and a sign of weakness, being a good sister and daughter and being grateful for my position as an adopted Colombian child in a Dutch family.
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Throughout my life, I resisted against my dysfunctional upbringing and against a society that didn't understand me or FASD. I had so much built-up anger and unresolved trauma that I didn't know where to turn. I started drinking at the age of 11. From then, things quickly went downhill.
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I was a teenage addict trapped in an adult body. I lost everything, including my home. I was given one last chance to go to rehab, where my real recovery began. Fortunately, I took this chance.
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I only found out at the age of 32 that I have FASD. I had received wrong diagnoses my entire life because no one thought of FASD. FASD is hardly discussed in the Netherlands, and certainly not in a positive way.
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*This background photo is a painting done by Nury in creative therapy. Here is what she wrote about it:
"I had this reoccurring dream when I was little. I feel like I am sinking, but then I realise I am diving for treasure and once I see it that way, I am floating in the most beautifull turquoise-colored bright water with sunrays ."
When I got the diagnosis, I thought my life was over. I literally sat inside, worrying and fearing that I would drop dead any moment because, according to an old, outdated, [taken out of context] study people with FASD only live until around 34. I thought I would never get better, and my mental health would deteriorate rapidly, especially since I had been addicted to alcohol and drugs until I was 28. I thought I had made it even worse. It was my own fault because I had learned: 'I should have known better!'
This may not sound very positive, but this is how I felt every day, and it's part of my story because my story is one of FALLING HARD and PROUDLY getting back up. No, I certainly did not sit still in my deep dark valley. I learned to deal with my 'demons' and accept my challenges as valuable lessons.
And by challenges, I don't mean the things that happened to me or were done to me. By challenges, I mean how I decided to look differently at what happened to me and how I crawled out of it, with AND without help from others. I literally was a loving parent to myself and listened to my intuition while taking my FASD into account.
I realize more and more that it's not my traumas or diagnoses that made me a strong and wise person. It's my perseverance and open mind with which I face them. I was born with FASD and many challenges, but I was also born with many talents to handle them. I just needed something to unlock them and I succeeded, partly by learning from other adults with FASD.
I am proud to share that I am a mother of two beautiful children, I’m married to a man who respects me as I am, and I contribute to FASD awareness as a member of The International Adult Leadership Collaborative (ALC) Collaborative of FASD of Changemakers. I have written a book about FASD and Motherhood, where I also talk about how difficult and confronting it is to be a parent coming from a dysfunctional family and experiencing early childhood trauma. I am also currently in therapy for my early childhood trauma. I am constantly learning about myself and letting go of old thoughts and ideas I created about myself. I learn to see myself differently and practice new coping mechanisms. I fail a lot, but I also learn. I learn more from failing actually.
It is a very exhausting process, but when I start something, I don't stop. I don’t stop because I am committed to breaking generational trauma, which is, to say the least, SOMETHING TO BE PROUD OF, even though it sometimes feels incredibly lonely and like I'm breaking all the rules ( which I am, I break dysfunctional rules ).
I proudly share that I not only survive, I LIVE! I make mistakes, I feel, I share what I feel, I learn from what I feel, and I share my experience as it really is. My key to success is being willing to be vulnerable, even though that is absolutely terrifying. I have learned that saying you are proud of yourself is not an ego thing, but actually quite scary. Either way, I will never rise above myself or think that I am better than anyone else. Because in my opinion, thinking that way teaches you less.
Pictured: Nury holding her published book.
Written in Dutch, this book is available for purchase in the Netherlands. It is currently being translated into English.
For our Dutch friends, click the link below for purchase:
https://fasproject.nl/product/buikje-boompje-baby/
Meet Niall Schofeild
Niall Schofield was born a member of Saddle Lake Cree Nation, Alberta, Canada. Raised in Saskatoon, Sk by his loving adoptive family, Niall has battled through, what seems to be,
impossible circumstances. In 2015, he faced a turning point: to continue to chase his dreams in the fashion industry or to face areas in his life of great difficulty head-on. He chose to overcome sexual assault, drug addiction, living with the stigma associated with FASD, and the grief of the loss of his older brother who was taken by a drunk driver.
Niall has overcome these intense obstacles with perseverance and emerged with a stronger sense of self. His hope is that the people who hear his story will be empowered and have the strength to overcome their worst fears and what holds them back in life - breaking the chains of trauma to live out their purpose.
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Niall shares a recent success story demonstrating true tenacity. Read more to be inspired and reminded that we are more than a diagnosis:
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"First and foremost I'd like to thank God for creating a roadmap of my eligibility for success. I am a BMX enthusiast...and my story starts about 4 years ago when I took over as president of a BMX club.
In three short years, I was able to raise 1.3 million dollars and ultimately make the BMX club the best in the province of Saskatchewan. I raised pretty much every cent other than maybe six or $700. So that's a great feat on its own, but the more important feature is building something in the community of Warman for the youth. It was a remarkable journey watching the club grow from 17 members to 159 members in three short years. I was able to get the first track that Olympian Trent Jones ever built in Canada. I was the first track to ever have paved Burns which is corners on the BMX track. It was the first BMX Club ever to have a team.
During my presidency, I also took coaching courses which allowed me to be the highest-qualified BMX coach in the province. With those efforts, I became the high-performance BMX coach of the province of Saskatchewan. Ultimately, Diamond BMX members and riders were soon the best riders in Saskatchewan and Alberta. My efforts didn't stop there. I had my eyes locked on hosting the first Canada Cup in Saskatchewan history. Not only did I secure a bid for the Canada Cup in Warman Saskatchewan, but it was BMX racing that hosted the first-ever national event in Warman history! After that year, we won the best volunteer nonprofit of the year. And then went on to host another Canada Cup just this year. This was a volunteer position, and I never received a dollar for my efforts, but I was able to build something that'll be there forever for the community and kids.
As of recently, I've stepped down as president of Diamond BMX, and I have taken a leave of absence from my coaching job to focus on mental health. I was actually contacted by a gentleman by the name of Max Ganakovsky. He is a two-time junior Elite champion. He is also a Guinness World Book record holder for the longest manual. And this year he clinched in his first year as a 19-year-old professional BMX racer. He is the number one elite Pro men's Rider in all of Canada.
[Max Ganakovsky] has
recently asked me to be
his manager which
makes me the first
indigenous manager
of an elite ProRider in
history.
Max and I have a great relationship and my goal is to get
him to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Now this accomplishment is quite minor when compared to overcoming addictions through Christ and receiving the Holy Spirit. There's absolutely nothing that can compare to that feeling..."
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