FORMER ADDICT THANKFUL SONS FORGAVE HER

After Overdose In 1999, Valpo Woman Free From Heroin's Grip

Shortly after 2 a.m. on New Year's Day 1999, Laurie Hohneck stopped breathing.

The Valparaiso woman snorted bad heroin and she was out cold. In the
world of heroin users, Hohneck was a rarity. At 26, when she started
using, she exercised control. She never shot her dope, only snorted it.

Even her introduction to the drug was casual. After a night out at a
bar, she went to a friend's house where others were using.

"It just turned into a big thing," said Hohneck, now 39. "Once you
start using, it's over."

She was a functional user for several months, able to keep an
assortment of jobs, including waitressing and housekeeping.

But eventually her habit became problematic. Unlike other users who
drove to Chicago to buy the drugs, Hohneck got her heroin from Hobart
and Valparaiso. She went to a house near Valparaiso University as
many as three times a day to buy as much as $300 of dope.

Her habits led her away from her two sons, now 16 and 18, and gave
her a belligerent and delusional disposition.

"When you catch yourself yelling and screaming, it kind of stops you
for a minute. But you still don't care," she said.

Thankfully, the night that Hohneck overdosed her friends took her to
the hospital. Now 39, she's stayed away from heroin since that night
and has been substance-free for five years.

"I don't feel like when I get up in the morning, where am I going to
go to get my next dose from?" she said. "That was a big thing for a
long time and it was really, really difficult."

Now Hohneck is focused on rebuilding her relationship with her two sons.

"They never went with me (to buy drugs) but they knew something was
wrong by the way I acted," she said. "I did do them wrong. I'm just
thankful they gave me another chance."