Talking To Teens & The Road to Recovery

I'd like to begin this blog with some good news. I am finally feeling a little bit better - three weeks after the car accident. The neck and back pain is easing up, and the physical therapy (three times a week!) is working. I'm breathing a sigh of relief, and hoping I continue to improve from this point.

With prom season here, I have been busy telling Karen's story to various groups of young people. From the young men at the Gow School to driver's ed classes at Williamsville South to health classes at Cleve-Hill High School in Cheektowaga, and today a pre-prom assembly at Alden High School...many eyes are being opened to the dangers of drinking and driving.

One of the students at Cleve-Hill brought out her cell phone during my presentation, and I thought it was unusual, and a little rude, but I didn't say anything. Afterwards, she came up to me and said, "I texted my sister to say 'I love you'". I smiled. One thing that I've learned from my sister's crash, is that life is short, and you should tell people how you feel about them, how much you love them before it's too late.

Today at Alden, a girl came up to me with tears in her eyes, and said she too lost a sibling, her brother. He wasn't killed in a car crash, but was very sick and died too soon. She said what I said brought tears to her eyes. I gave her a hug.

A special thank you to the teens at Cleve-Hill and Alden High School for their donations to Crusade Against Impaired Driving, Inc.

Coming soon...two Buffalo News reporters were in the audience for today's assembly at Alden. Donn Esmonde's column is expected to be published Sunday, and Emma Sapong's article will also be printed soon. I will post links in this blog.

We are working on....getting video of my presentation put on karenscrusade.org, making plans for an upcoming fundraiser - it's a softball tournament that will be held in West Seneca on Saturday, August 9. I am looking for volunteers to help organize this event and I'm looking to recruit teams too. Feel free to email me at info@karenscrusade.org to learn more.


Deanna