Manchester mom and drug court graduate thanks Friends of NH Drug Courts
Eight months pregnant and unable to breathe because of a life-threatening heart condition, Amanda Campbell last remembers seeing the city lights of Manchester fade in the distance from the emergency medical helicopter that was flying her to Boston.
She was told she “flatlined” three times on the trip to the hospital where medical staff placed her in a coma and delivered her baby Aug. 9, 2023. She regained consciousness seven weeks later with no recollection of what happened.

“I thought I was waking up the next day. I started freaking out. I said, ‘Where is my baby?’ I tried moving my legs and I couldn’t move my legs,” says Amanda, who was midway through her treatment program at Hillsborough County Superior Court North Adult Drug Court at the time. She discovered what she thought were “really bad asthma attacks” was a serious heart condition for which she is now being treated.
Once awake, her thoughts immediately turned to her newborn son, Ryder.
“When I went into my coma, I wasn’t prepared at all. I had no baby clothes. I didn’t have a crib. I literally had nothing and [Friends of New Hampshire Drug Courts] helped me to get all of it. So, my baby was all set and ready for the world because of [the Friends] and I appreciate that so much,” Amanda says.
Days before giving birth, Amanda was awarded a $500 grant by the Friends of New Hampshire Drug Courts to buy baby supplies.
“It made so much of a difference. I think of the types of struggles I would have had when I woke up and the amount of emotional struggle I would have had — like not being able to take care of my baby and give him the things he needed,” she says. “You guys helped me probably through the hardest situation in my life. You brought me some calm and peace and it kept me sane.”
But what Amanda finds even more overwhelming is that the Friends — a group of people she had never met — would care about her.
“It is crazy to think that you guys would help me like that. That was a lot for me. It still makes me emotional,” she says through tears. “And you guys don’t even know me. That’s why it really hits home and I appreciate it.”
The Friends also awarded her a $336.31 grant to help pay for her medical insurance.
Amanda, who turns 32 in January, acknowledges she is used to taking care of herself and is described by a member of her drug court treatment team as resilient, strong-willed, a “true survivor” and someone “who has had to overcome more obstacles in half her life than most will in their entire lives.”
The Manchester resident said she began using drugs when she was 13, stole to support her habit, and racked up felony charges for “shameful things that I’m not proud of.” She got pregnant at 15 and dropped out of high school her freshman year. Her mother raised her son, Benjamin, now 14. She later gave birth to two other children, whom her aunt adopted. She says she was homeless for about 12 years. Finally, facing a 7- to 13-year prison sentence, she entered drug court May 17, 2022.
“If it wasn’t for drug court, I would have been dead by now. I don’t think I could have got sober by myself,” says Amanda, who graduated from drug court on October 15, 2024 with her family in the courtroom.
Today, she thanks her mother for raising Benjamin, whom she sees daily. Amanda works at a medical device manufacturing company in Merrimack and would like to get her high school diploma so she can pursue her dream job: becoming a certified recovery support worker and part of a drug court treatment team.
“I have a big spot in my heart for people who are going through what I went through…and I just want to help them,” she says.
Amanda and her husband, Cole, will celebrate their second wedding anniversary in January. She has a 3-year-old stepson, Jackson, and Ryder, now 1.
“I thought [this] was impossible. If you asked me three years ago where I would be today, I wouldn’t even be able to tell you if I would be alive. So, the fact that I’m sitting in my own apartment and I can buy my baby stuff that he needs and he’s happy and healthy and I’m married and happy is so beyond my imagination.”