Stephen J. Della Valle of Oak Ridge starting drinking and getting high at age 13, and continued for 24 years.

"I was basically a child that was very afraid and had to have something in his system just to live, just to get by," he said.

Along the way, "I lost my wife. I lost my children. I lost my job. I lost my home. I lost my freedom. I lost my self-respect. I had nothing at all," he said.

"Alcohol and drugs took everything away from me. I hit some extreme bottoms. The only bottom that I didn’t hit was death."

Della Valle has chronicled his journey – the highs, the lows and the journey to sobriety – in a new book, "Rising Above the Influence: A True Story About Alcohol, Drugs and Recovery" (Oak Ridge Press, 2008).

Today, he is a successful entrepreneur, the head of Jason Craig Entertainment in Wayne, which provides entertainment for corporate parties, weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs. He is married again, and a father, and reconciled with the two daughters from his first, shattered, marriage.

But the achievement that best signifies how far Della Valle has traveled and how high he has climbed is serving as president of the board of Turning Point, an alcohol-and-drug rehabilitation center in Verona.

When Della Valle tried to get into Turning Point for treatment 25 years ago, "They rejected me," he said. "They were so sharp that they knew I really didn’t want to get sober. I really didn’t want to get clean. The guy could see it. He told me to ‘save the bed for somebody who really wanted it,’" Della Valle said. "I had no intentions of getting sober."

His life under the influence included jail time, homelessness, embezzling funds from employers, lying to and ripping off his closest family and friends, and even taking medication from his mother as she lay dying from cancer.

"I was one of those ‘lost causes,’" Della Valle admitted. What saved him was Sunrise House, a rehabilitation center in Sussex County.

"It had been getting a little crazy for me, and I said, ‘Let me get a little rest,’" he said. "Something clicked for me in that rehab center.

"To this day, I really don’t know what it was. I just know that once I experienced a sober life, I wanted to stay sober more than I wanted to get high."

As difficult as it was to stop abusing substances, choosing to tell his story was no small challenge.

"Writing the book brought back nightmares and memories," he said. "I told it like it was, but I minimized things. I didn’t want to make it over the top. Some of the things I wrote were nowhere near as severe, like the time in jail and prison, and walking the streets not eating for days.

"There were times that were so horrendous that they were burned into my memory banks," Della Valle said. "So it was very difficult to write it."

Though he said he "couldn’t even read or talk properly" when he began to get sober, Della Valle was inspired to write the book when he saw his reflection in a storefront window after about 17 years of sobriety.

"I was driving a brand-new, very expensive car, and I really couldn’t believe that it was me, that I had come from where I was to where I am today. I thought, ‘I have to let people know how I did it, and that they can do it also,’" he said.

Since writing and publishing "Rising Above the Influence," he’s received calls and e-mails from addicts seeking treatment. "I’m getting tremendous messages of hope from people."

Part of the value of the book is that "in the field of addiction, you have a lot of counselors, but a lot of them are taught by books and they learn in schools," Della Valle said.

"I think my actual experience goes a long way when I speak to someone. I understand the streets. I understand jails. I understand what can happen to you as a result."