and that accident would change my life forever.

Dr. A prescribed me a 120 hydrocodone.

I started taking them and then he said, "Okay.

You're going to see me in a month." The addiction.

the love for these pills happened so fast because within three

weeks before I went back to see the other doctor that he was

referring me to for the therapy, he was writing the same script

for me and I was trying to figure out a way to keep both scripts.

At this point, I didn't know what I was doing.

[music]

I was taking 35 pills a day, which was six at a time all day.

If I didn't have them for a certain amount

of hours, I would start feeling withdrawal.

I know so many people that raise kids that

are in the church and they think, "Okay.

My kid has a 4.0 GPA.

My kid has a scholarship." At the end of the day,

I was one of those children that was raised

up in a great home and the audiologist said,

"You're going to some type of hearing loss.

Are you taking any drugs?"

I was saying to this guy, "No. I'm not taking any drugs. I'm fine."

One of my primary physicians said to me,

"Ms. Ellis, I can't prescribe you anymore. "

Laura said, " Guess why you went there?"

He was writing down notes because I couldn't hear.

I just realized that I was at the end of the road

because my name was being flagged so many times

in all these different pharmacies and I never

took a painkiller since then at that moment.

That was August 8th, 2010.

[music]

I had my son Houston, at 24 weeks

gestation on the back of an ambulance.

I was fully deaf.

I got the first implant surgery on the right side when

he was two years old and I had never heard his voice.

We have to tell our stories because

there are so many pathways to recovery.

People need hope and whole towns are dying and people need to see

people like me that are striving and thriving and you can overcome it.

[music]