Two years ago, Travon Woodall went by his mother’s home in Paterson, N.J., and made a special request.Woodall was about to become one of six seniors at St. Anthony High School to sign a national letter of intent – to the University of Pittsburgh on a basketball scholarship — and he wanted his mother, Theresa Ratliff, to be sober on that day.
“Mom, I need you sober. I need you for this,” Ratliff recalled her son telling her. “This is my life. I want to go to school.”
Ratliff had battled alcohol and drug addictions for much of her adult life and was no longer living with her son. But she looked at Travon and didn’t hesitate, “OK, I’ll be there.”
