RichardHarlos.com

For some, the headline of this post will be as far as they go. For others, they’ll get past the headline and view the picture, then it’ll be on to something else. The rest may be motivated by a morbid curiosity, a penchant for extremes or perhaps a genuine empathy that wants to learn more about the situation.

Whether any of these motivations apply to you or not, please click through to read the entire story. Maybe you don’t drink and drive and the message of this story isn’t relevant to you individually. Perhaps, though, you know someone who does need to hear it. Perhaps this story is dramatic enough that, after reading it, you’ll find the courage to confront this person who needs to know that drinking and driving doesn’t just kill in an instant; it can maim for a lifetime.

Not everyone who gets hit by a drunk driver dies; some go on to live with injuries that are too extreme to imagine. This is one such story and I hope its message might reach even one person who needs to hear it, and consequently saves at least one life from an unnecessarily early ending; or a lifetime of anguish.

Will you give a moment of your time right now in exchange for the possibility of saving another life? Is that too much to ask?

Early on Sunday morning, September 19, 1999, Jacqueline Saburido, 20, and four friends were on their way home from a birthday party. Reggie Stephey, an 18-year-old star football player, was on his way home from drinking beer with some buddies. On a dark road on the outskirts of Austin, Texas, Reggie’s SUV veered into the Oldsmobile carrying Jacqui and the others. Two passengers in the car were killed at the scene and two were rescued. Within minutes, the car caught fire. Jacqui was pinned in the front seat on the passenger side. She was burned over 60% of her body; no one thought she could survive. But Jacqui lived. Her hands were so badly burned that she no longer can use them. She lost her hair, her ears, her nose, her left eyelid and much of her vision. She has had more than 40 operations since the crash and has many more to go.
-from Do not drink and drive, FNNC.org.

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