"You never know if that next drug is going to be your last," said Hannah Coates
Hannah Coates has been clean for two years. And now it's her chance to help prevent others from going down the dangerous road of addiction.
"It started with pills and for some reason I couldn't afford pills anymore and that quickly progressed to be heroin. A lot of people start off with prescription drugs and them move on to something cheaper and more efficient."
Her rock bottom is enough to scare anyone.
"I was homeless, I was emaciated, had a lot of health problems. I was waking up every morning realizing that most 19-year-olds aren't waking up homeless in Baltimore.
It was that hopelessness that made her realize it was time to turn her life around. The same is true for Josh Fischer.
"My rock bottom was worrying that my mother would have to bury me. I lost a lot of things in addiction," said Fischer.
And he doesn't want young people to learn the hard way.
"It's just been a blessing to help people and it's helped me in so many ways," said Coates.
These events, where the stories of loss are emotionally told, happen all the time and for a good reason.
"It's about keeping the conversation going, it's about raising awareness using the words heroin, using the words addiction. As much as we hear about it, it's still not enough in your face as it needs to be," said John Torsch, Co-founder of the Daniel Torsch Foundation.
Coates and Fischer talk about how painkiller prescriptions lead to their battle with addiction, but these words for those going down the same path.
"I can promise you when you get clean and you take some suggestions you can have a life beyond your wildest dreams," said Fischer, you just have to take it a day at a time and it's going to be okay and no matter what, don't pick up that drug."
