From Prescription Pills to Heroin to Giving Back

A former Air Force airman talks about his 15-year addiction and how his successful recovery is about helping others

Billy Brokschmidt has been in recovery from opioid addiction for two years and now lives in his sister's basement near Dayton, Ohio, on Dec. 8, 2017. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

DAYTON, Ohio—Billy Brokschmidt can’t remember the number of times he overdosed and stopped breathing, but it was “probably several dozen.”

“When I was down in Florida, I was staying with this girl named Amy—she was letting me sleep on her couch—and I overdosed at her house many, many times. And she would just breathe for me for a couple of minutes until I snapped out of it.”