Louis Marcell's story of addiction, which started with a teenage party and ended with him living out of his car, was once something he hid, but now he readily shares how he continues to fight.
"I remember the day when I started doing prescription opiates, and I had gotten a tooth pulled," said Marcell, recalling the moment that pulled him into a spiral of prescription drugs and heroin, despite losing his younger brother to the same thing.
His addiction started with alcohol and marijuana, he said.
His mother helped pull him back.
"We tried to call around trying to get him into treatment and thank God it worked for him," said Audrey O'Hara.
It's that message of redemption they shared with those sitting in a house of worship to listen to stories of sin.
The event was held at Mount Zion Church in Bel Air.
The Turning Point Project helps people get into sober living when they leave treatment, something Chris McKewen, who listened, said he battles daily after first beating alcoholism, and now fighting addiction to heroin.
"Addicition can tear apart a family so easily," said McKewen.
He said hearing Marcell, his mother, and another mother and son duo speak helped with his own recovery.
"It means a lot. What it does is it gives people hope. Hope for the future that you can recover and you can be happy," McKewen said.
A spokesman for the Turning Point Project said they hoped the event would "educate the community and allow parents to see patterns or similarities in their own families."
