Your User name and real name (first name is all I ask) bradsmom/Julie
Your Angels name(s)Brad--
Your Angels Birth Date Brad--July 4,1986
Your Angels Death Date-Brad--October 6,2007
Samantha--09/04/88-10/06/07
Chris--11/15/82-10/06/07
State that you live in - Mississippi
Your Angels Memorial Page(s) (if you have one)
http://www.william-downs.last-memories.com and
http://www.myspace.com/forbradandsamI want to tell you about the most precious treasure that was stolen from me…I didn’t lose it…IT WAS STOLEN…
My day of sadness is about my son Brad, 21, his wife of 3 1/2 months, Samantha, 19 and Chris who I had grown to love as a son, 24. All three of them were living at home with us (me, my husband and handicap daughter....)
October 6, 2007 was an ordinary fall day… It was a Saturday, as I headed home from work, Chris called and said they were hungry... I couldn't understand why 3 adult
(kids) couldn't cook for themselves, so as a joke I stopped at Backyard Burgers and got all 3 of them a kids meal.. They laughed about it when I gave it to them and said they would have to get themselves something on the way out because they were still hungry.... They left the house around 6:00p.m. to go to the car races. They were only gone for an hour when they came home and said that the races were cancelled because of the rain and they were going to change and go to the movies... As they left for the second time that night I was on the computer checking my email.. Chris bent down and gave me a hug and told me that he loved me. I told him to have fun and that I loved him too. Samantha was smiling as she walked out the door. When Brad got to the door he turned around and said "Mom, see you when we get home. I love you." I told him to drive careful and to have a good time and that I loved him too.
An hour later my husband called to say he was going to be a little longer getting home because he had to detour around a car crash on Hwy 53. I told him I would call the kids to let them know so they could come home the back way just in case it was still blocked. I dialed Brad's number and he didn't answer. Not thinking anything at this point I called Samantha. She didn't answer either... Then out of panic, I called Chris...No answer.. I called my husband and told him to go back to the crash and see if it was them. My heart was in my throat. I knew, I just didn’t realize yet how bad…. My brother and sister came over to be with me and we started calling the police, the highway patrol and the hospitals. When my husband got back to the crash site the police told him to leave or they would arrest him. My sister took my keys from me so I couldn’t leave. I needed to go find them.. They didn’t want me driving because I was so panicked. While on the phone with the local hospital I found out that they had 2 of the victims. I called my husband and sent him to the hospital. Somehow, I ended up on the phone with the coroner and I was screaming at him..”IS MY SON DEAD…IS MY SON DEAD?” And he said “yes, I believe he is.” I threw the phone and screamed at the top of my lungs and screamed and screamed.. “No not my baby.”. This couldn’t be true. Things like this happen to other people; not to me.. I jumped in the car and my sister took me to the hospital. I had to find my husband.. He was fixing to find out the worse news that he would ever hear. I called him on the phone and knew that I was the one that had to tell him. He couldn’t hear this from a stranger.. When he answered the phone he said he was standing in the emergency room trying to get some information.. all I could say was “Bill…Bill… your baby is gone.. It was him…He didn’t make it.. None of them made it.. They are all gone. He dropped the phone and I hurried to the hospital to be with him. The coroner met me at the door and took me to Bill (my husband). Brad and Sam didn’t make it to the hospital.. The victims that were there were Chris, who was brain dead at the scene but had a faint heart beat so they transported him and then the passenger of the other car.. Everyone else was dead…my 3 kids died and the driver of the other car. She was 3 times over the legal limit.. My kids were killed because of a stupid choice made by a 38 year old DRUNK DRIVER.. She crossed over into their lane and hit them head on going 80 miles an hour shattering not only their bodies but destroying our lives. I died that night..My husband died that night and my family is broken….It can never be fixed…Every day when we wake up our kids are still dead… We have been living this nightmare for 30 months now.. and believe me there have been many days that I didn’t think I could bare the pain any longer... Just the act of getting out of bed was progress. I didn’t leave my house for 20 months unless I just absolutely had to. Weeks would go by with my staying in my pajama’s. I didn’t want to see the sunshine, I didn’t want to think, I didn’t want to see anyone and at times I didn’t want to live.
I’m not sure when it happened but a little sun light peeped through that fog of pain and slowly I AM rebuilding a life.. It’s not the life I want but it’s the life I have.
I have come full circle in my relationship with God. From Love to Hate, to longing and now back to wanting and needing Him in my life. Instead of blaming God I know that he did not Kill my son… The drunk driver did. The drunk driver stole my kids and stole my life...I also realize now that God has been with me through it all.. I just could not see Him through the pain…
Thank you for reading my story…And It doesn’t end here…We have joined the fight against Drunk Driving and will work until the day we die to save someone else’s life. MADD has giving us a voice and we will not stop…
PLEASE DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE