Drinking and Driving? I Urge You to Think About it First

For all of you who believe that nothing bad can happen when you drink and drive let me share the tale of a co-worker with you, Lois was a very friendly helpful certified nursing assistant as well as a friend of mine. She had only been married almost a year when she found out she was pregnant with her first child, a baby she had desired for a very long time, the same week she was hit by a drunk driver who changed her life forever in the most horrible way imaginable.

The crash left my friend in a coma for three months, her right side was paralyzed, and she lost her left arm below the elbow as it was amputated during the accident. She broke six ribs, received major brain damage, lost her baby, and was forever changed because some foolish man made a decision to drive dunk that fateful day.

She will never recover from that accident, and Lois has been living in the facility for ten years now where we used to work side by side. Never again will she do the work she loved and never will she finish her nursing degree and go on to work in this nursing home.

Lois will never feed herself again, nor speak in words most people will understand. Lois cannot do any of the things most of us take for granted such as tying our shoes, blowing our nose, and even rolling over without another aide or nurse to turn her.

Lois is now almost thirty-eight years old, but the accident left her with so much brain damage that she is like an infant who cannot do anything for herself, even if she physically wanted too. With medical advances and special food and drinks, she will live until old age comes, but what kind of life is this? Lois was very fit and active, had a gym membership, and often ran a few miles a day, and without the ability to move as she once did, she is getting very obese.

Lois's parents lost a grandchild that day, but worst of all they lost their daughter for all intensive purposes. Never again will this daughter say I love you, or play golf with her dad. She will never stand in the kitchen for hours baking Christmas cookies with her mom and sister, as was the family tradition.

Lois has one sister who misses the woman her sister used to be, and her children will never know just how special a person their aunt was before the accident, which forever changed her life ten long years ago. Carrie has lost her sister and best friend because of that accident. She knows her sister is very much alive, but when she does visit Lois, her sister does not recognize her but Carrie still has special memories of the woman her sister used to be.

This family took family vacations together up until the accident and they enjoyed those special times. They were a very close family, and this really saddens me as her friend who knew her before that horrible accident.

Lois's family was deeply affected by this accident and their family was forever changed because one man decided that it was ok to drink and drive. It is such a shame that this man just was fined and was behind the wheel again quickly. I wonder if he ever thinks how he changed Lois's life forever with his decision to drink and drive.