Not everyone who gets hit by a drunk driver dies....

[ShellShock Profile]

....but then again, not everyone is so lucky.

Jacqueline Saburido before she was hit by a drunk driver

Jacqueline Saburido after her car was struck by an SUV driven by a drunk party-goer

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/adults/saburido.htm

Early on Sunday morning September 19, 1999, Jacqui -- then 20 years old -- and four friends were on their way home from a birthday party. Reggie Stephey, an 18-year-old high school student, 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.
At a distance Jacqui looks old. Up close, ageless.

She has a baggy neckchin and thin crumpled lips. Her cheeks are splotchy and rough in places, smooth in others.

Where her right ear should be, she has a slender crescent of cartilage around a pea-size black hole. On the left side, she has only a hole. Her nostrils are ragged, torn. A flap of skin hides her left eye. For more than two years, the eyeball floated naked in the socket, mostly blind but perpetually staring behind a clear plastic goggle. Her right eye sees behind a veil of scar.

Her burned skin can't sweat or protect her from heat and cold. It feels hot and tight, like having a sunburn.

Scars run down her body, halting at her knees and before her size 7-1/2 feet, which the fire never touched. She has learned to use her feet like hands -- her toes stroke a blanket's softness and test shower water.

Her fingers are amputated between the knuckle and the first joint. On her right hand, they are fused together like a mitten.

Nerve damage has left parts of her body numb. She can make out some texture with the bottom of her right palm. Her left hand feels only pinpricks -- "like a thousand needles," she says. Her hands hurt every day, but Jacqui doesn't take painkillers.

Just..wow, I almost cried when I discovered this...words cant describe it.

[Agent-Commando]

I saw this before too.. it's very... hard to see.

Should place a warning on this on your links...it's not suitable for all ages to see... even if it's the truth.

[ShipWreck Profile Website]

thats is really sad. ive seen my share of accidents, and deaths. which i dont like to talk about, but why dont people use common sence¿

[Buliwyf Profile]

very sad

[NGame]

Yeah, I've read about her and I saw her special on Oprah at my Driver's Ed class. It's sad to see a human being so damaged like this.

But what can we really do to avoid things like this? You would think society would developed robotic driving systems or something of that nature by now... ah well. I blame capitalism in general.

[shockwave203 Profile]

This is just so sad. I hope that one day, people will finally get the message that they are affecting more people than themselves when they choose to get behind the wheel after drinking.