Addiction recovery stories inspire healing and hope

Eric and Carla Alexander told their story of addiction at the London Addiction Recovery Breakfast on Sept. 23, 2022. (Sean Irvine/CTV News London)

A great big sea of people, 380 to be exact, heard Sean McCann, formerly of the group Great Big Sea tell his story of addiction through words and song.

McCann told those attending the London Addiction Recovery Breakfast it is possible to climb out of addiction.

“I found my bottom, my rock bottom. And that is a firm place from which to push your feet up from,” he told those gathered at the Hilton Hotel ballroom.

The crowd also heard from Eric Alexander and his wife Carla, who are still working their way back up from when Eric first started to battle his addictions.

“The most important relationship was not myself. It was not my family or the people who cared for me and who loved me. It was drugs,” said Eric.

Carla said she was blind to Eric’s addictions at first. But as his lies and stealing grew, she knew her family was in trouble.

“He’d be causing fights late at night just to leave the house and get high.”

After an intervention, Eric got clean and spent five years healing and learning about himself.

“I’m not actually that bad of a man. I’m not actually the monster I thought I was,” he said.

And while true, the pandemic brought some of Eric’s demons back. This time, it put additional strain on the marriage and left Carla in despair.

“A couple of months ago, I was in a very dark place full of anger, self-pity anger and anxiety,” she told the crowd through tears.

Eric and Carla recently separated, yet they are still committed to each other's spiritual recovery.

Both hope their story will encourage others battling addiction, personally or through a family member, to seek support.

“Maybe that will give them enough courage to open up themselves and share what’s actually happening in order for them to grow and get the help they need,” said Eric.

Carla hopes supporters of those battling addictions do the same. She says at some point they need to look after themselves.

“I always stepped back and I let him be about him. Now I’m at a point in my life, that no, this is about me. It is about everything I’ve been through and my children have been through,” she said.

This is the 14th year the London Addiction Recovery Breakfast has been held.