JD Vance's mother celebrates 10 years of sobriety at the White House

JD Vance's mother, Beverly Atkins, celebrated 10 years of sobriety at the White House on Friday.

According to a report from The Telegraphe, Atkins received a medallion rewarding a decade of great efforts in her fight against addiction.

The ceremony, held in the White House conference room just across from the Oval Office, was attended by friends and family who came from Kentucky and Ohio.

In the memoir Hillbilly Elegy, written by JD Vance, the vice president captured his mother's struggle with alcohol and drug addiction.

Likewise, during the October vice presidential debate, Vance recounted how it was his grandmother who raised him while his mother struggled with addiction. "I grew up in a working-class family," he said. "My mother needed food assistance for periods of her life. My grandmother needed welfare assistance to raise me."

"And she raised me in part because my own mother struggled with addiction for much of my early life."JD Vance.

According to a statement picked up by the Washington Examiner, during the ceremony Vance said, "When I think about all that you've accomplished over the last 10 years and the fact that when I was thinking about being a father, I didn't know if you would live long enough to have a relationship with my kids. And now here they are, almost 8, 5 and 3 years old, and you're the best grandmother these kids could ask for."

"It's an amazing thing to see. One of the great blessings of becoming a parent is that I've been able to watch these kids develop love and affection for you and see them give it back to you. And that's an incredible blessing," exclaimed the vice president.