Every Sunday I am reminded of the cruelty of drunk drivers. I have the opportunity to volunteer for Sunday school at my church. Each week I watch a beautiful 8-year-old struggle to regain normality after an accident involving her, and her mother Indira, and a drunken teen driver. The impact an accident like this can have on a family is devastating.


Hannah was only three when she and her mother were hit head-on by a driver, who at the time was drunk. After the accident, she lost all movement on her right side. She’s forever in leg braces, her speech is impacted and brain trauma prevents her from doing everyday things. I see her every Sunday, smiling and bubbly. I can’t help but feel hatred and sadness towards the guy who careless and drunk, got in a car. Hannah was perfect before, and now, has to live life relearning the things we take for granted.

Her mother Indira has had 10 operations on her right femur. Despite the number of operations, she’s in pain every day, and her brittle leg keeps breaking. Indira is the daughter of our Spanish minister. She’s bilingual, plays piano with the Worship Team and has inspiringly strong faith. I had the chance to get to know her a little better at a women’s retreat this summer. She shared her story with me and how it changed her life.

Statistics show that alcohol-impaired driving fatalities accounted for 31% of the total vehicle traffic fatalities in 2010. For someone to be so careless, as to get in a car drunk, is beyond me. It changes the lives of so many people. Seeing what something like an accident can do to someone scares me enough stay away from drinking.