Every year, 26,000 babies are stillborn in America. In 2003, one of them was my son.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

If You've Ever Needed a Reason

...not to text and drive, or call and drive, I have one for you.

Watch Oprah this Friday, April 30th, and look out for a young woman named Jacy Good. I knew her mother, many years ago, and have written about her here, though I didn't name names. I taught her brother in Vacation Bible School about 100 years ago, for me, which translates to about 3 years ago for him.

Two years ago this May, Jacy graduated from college, magna cum laude, on a beautiful Sunday. After the ceremony, the congratulations, the hugs, the goodbyes, she and her parents loaded her things in the family car to drive home. Jacy was set to begin working in New York City as an Americorps Volunteer, for Habitat for Humanity. She was set to change the world.

The afternoon of her graduation, as she and her parents drove towards home, a young man on a cell phone ran a red light and into the path of an 18-wheeler, which proceeded to veer into the Good's car. Jacy's parents died immediately, and she was not expected to live. That she did live is nothing short of miraculous. While not fully recovered, she has made amazing strides. Parts of her will never function "normally" again, but she's alive. And she's on a campaign to stop cell phone use while driving.

I'm not really for voyeurism, but if you click on this link you will see the photo of her family's car after the accident. It's horrific. Even more horrific are the injuries she suffered and the sorrow she and her brother have endured in the last two years.

If you know someone who uses a cell phone while driving, please send them this link. Please ask them to stop.

2 comments:

Becky said...

This accident happened near us and it's something that we talk about pretty often. It was horrible. What she endured was tremendous and I can't imagine what she went through. It was much to much for a young girl with so much on the horizon.

I've taken Oprah's No Phone Zone pledge and I hope others have too. I pledged to not text and drive (which I don't do anyway) and to talk only handsfree. I'm not ready to give up talking on the phone completely yet even though I know that I should.

Monica H said...

That is so incredibly sad and heartbreaking. I couldn't stop looking through those photos and wondering about their families.