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Our AccidentJan 09 '10 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Don't drink and drive.
On Saturday night, December 12, 2009, I had the bright idea to take my family to look at Christmas lights at a new park that opened in Troutman, NC. My little girl, Mary Ashley, had a friend spending the night and my son was sulled up because his friend hadn't been home and hadn't returned his call. This turned out to be very lucky for this little boy. On our way home, we began crossing one of the many bridges over Lake Norman when I spied a pair of headlights veering over into my lane. I began slowing down and moving to the shoulder as soon as I saw this, hoping the other driver would correct himself before any of these defensive steps would be necessary. He kept coming into my lane, almost like I had a magnet on my front fender. Luckily I was able to come to nearly a complete stop, as far to the right as the bridge would allow, but the other driver never even hit his brakes. He hit us at about 55 miles per hour, head on. The next instant I feel my legs/feet screaming in pain, and I'm trapped in the driver's side, feeling unable to get enough air because of the powder in the air bags floating in the air, hearing my children screaming. My husband stumbled out of the car and I heard one of the girls say he was "asleep on the guard rail". The people who came upon us called 911 and our parents. They put my children in their van to keep them warm until the police arrived. It felt like forever until the ambulance arrived and pried me out of the car. We all got our own ambulance, except for the girls who rode with my husband. Luckily for all of us, we were driving a Chevy Tahoe. The state trooper who answered our call told us it probably saved our lives. The children in the back seat and the third row seats fared the best. Ty had huge bruises across his stomach and shoulder from the seatbelt. The girls in the very back sustained the same bruises, and Mary Ashley's friend has a compressed vertebrae. Dustin, my husband, was sitting on the passenger's side and got a concussion, a bruised kidney a torn oblique muscle and some intense bruising on his back. I sustained a compound fracture of the right leg, a shattered right ankle and a badly broken left foot. No charges have been filed yet, but the man who hit my family is being charged with DUI among other things, according to the preliminary police report. This will be his fourth, in addition to other charges I've found such as child abuse and domestic abuse. He is from an influential family in this area, and I've not seen a mention of our wreck in any of our local papers. A fender bender by the courthouse made the front page, though. I stayed in the hospital for 9 days and then was transferred to a rehab facility where I remain, perhaps for 3 more weeks. I am unable to put any weight on either foot for 2 months, so I am learning to lift myself in and out of my wheelchair (sort of like Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump) to get around. I have 2 more surgeries to look forward to and I will have to re-learn to walk I suppose, since my muscles have already atrophied in spite of daily exercises during my 2 hour therapy sessions. I haven't been home in nearly a month. I spent Christmas, New Years and my daughter's birthday in this facility. My children are still afraid to ride in the car. I will be out of work for a year. I work as a REALTOR, which the government considers "self employment" so no disability checks during that time for me. I don't want pity, though. What I'd like is for this dude to go to jail. And for people to think about how much they can affect the lives of others if they make the decision to drive a car while under the influence. It's not rocket science, people. Pull over and call someone.  |
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