After years of battling addiction, JD Vance’s mother has reached a major milestone.
On April 7, the Vice President hosted a special celebration at the White House. Beverly Aikins, now 64, has officially been sober for ten years.
"This year marks my mom’s 10th year of sobriety, and I'm grateful that we were able to celebrate in the White House with our family," Vance shared on X. "Mom, I am so proud of you."
The event was held in the Roosevelt Room. Friends and family gathered to support Aikins and mark her achievement.
Vance spoke with emotion about his mother. He said recovery gave back what addiction took. “You are a person that others can rely on,” he said, according to the Washington Examiner.
"And I know you’re an inspiration to a lot of people in the recovery and addiction community. So, from the bottom of my heart and speaking for the whole family, we love you."
To honor the moment, Vance presented his mother with a presidential "challenge coin." It was a symbol of pride and recognition.
Growing up in Middletown, Ohio, and Jackson, Kentucky, Vance was open about his mom’s struggles. On the campaign trail, he often spoke about how his grandmother, “Mamaw,” stepped up.
"She raised me in part because my own mother struggled with addiction for a big chunk of my early life," he said during the October vice presidential debate.
Her addiction started with a prescribed medication. But it spiraled. She eventually began stealing drugs from her patients, as Vance wrote in Hillbilly Elegy.
That path led her to heroin. As a child, Vance saw it all—addiction, rehab, and relapse.
Still, he never gave up on her. He stood by her side, determined to help however he could.
"I knew that a mother could love her son despite the grip of addiction."
"It was the eternal hope, the thing to which I couldn’t say no," Vance wrote in his memoir.
"That hope drove me to voluntarily attend those many N.A. meetings, consume books on addiction, and participate in Mom’s treatment to the fullest extent that I could."
"I knew that a mother could love her son despite the grip of addiction," he also wrote. "I knew that my family loved me, even when they struggled to take care of themselves."
Today, Aikins works as a nurse at Seacrest Recovery Center in Cincinnati. The treatment facility supports people fighting addiction.
In October, she spoke to the Washington Examiner about her journey. “I want people who are struggling with addiction or who have family members who are struggling with addiction to know that recovery is possible,” she said.
“You get back so much more from recovery than you ever think you can get back.”
Her advice is simple but powerful: reach out, get help, and stick with it. “Recovery is hard, but it’s so worth it,” she says, according to Vance’s office.
Recent data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows 48.5 million Americans 12 and older dealt with substance-use disorders last year.