I love this post.
In December 1998, my mom and I were stopped at a red light 2 miles from our house. Mom looked in her rear-view mirror and saw a car speeding towards us. Mom braced herself and stood up on the brake. I sat in the back, not thinking anything was out of the ordinary. Only moments later did I feel like a train had rammed into the back of us. A man had hit us, stopped, going over 100mph. Even with my mom standing on the brakes, the impact sent our car forward 418 ft. Later we found out that this man had been drinking and BAL was way over the legal limit.
I remember the screeching of the tires and clashing of the metal and the blur of everything around me, but the most disturbing memory I have is my mom’s screams. My mom had a dislocated hip, one broken leg, one leg fractured in 2 places, 2 discs in her spine were compromised, a fractured neck, and two broken arms.
My mom could no longer do basic things. She couldn’t walk, or feed herself. She couldn’t go to the bathroom on her own. She was on a ventilator for 4 months; she couldn’t even breathe on her own. I had to teach my mom how to walk again when I was 5 years old. I had to sit by my mom’s bed and watch her in agonizing pain.
When you drive drunk, you are putting not only YOURSELF at risk to be injured, but you are risking taking someone else’s life, or making them a vegetable for the rest of their life. My mom is permanently disabled and at age 40 has had over 30 surgeries since the wreck, trying to repair the damage that’s been done. My mom has accumulated several pain disorders over the accident. My mom isn’t the same person she was. My mom didn’t die the night we were hit, but part of her soul did.
You don’t understand that when you drive while under the influence, you have the potential to kill someone. Not only will it effect you, as well as the other person. It effects the injured person’s family for the rest of their lives. Because of this man who made a poor choice one night, I don’t have a mother. I am a mother to my own mother.
Think before you act.
Haley, you never cease to amaze me.
(Source: deadxend, via soaringthroughparadisee)
