Everyone should read this carefully... Especially Lindsie!
Today, I found out something I never wanted to hear.
The drunk driver who caused my daughter’s traumatic brain injury will be eligible for parole in a little over a year.
He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
But on the day he made the decision to drink and drive, my daughter was given a sentence of her own.
And hers has no parole date.
She was only three years old.
She didn't choose to get into that vehicle.
She didn't choose the crash.
She didn't choose the traumatic brain injury.
She didn't choose to wake up with her life permanently changed.
But she has had to live with the consequences every single day since.
Physical therapy.
Occupational therapy.
Speech therapy.
Neurology appointments.
Medications.
Psychological therapy.
IEPs.
Bullying.
Struggles that most people will never see.
And the hardest part?
There is no sentence reduction for her.
There is no day when she gets to walk out of prison and say, “My sentence is over.”
Her sentence is every day.
For the rest of her life.
So today, I did something I've been dreading.
I wrote the letter.
The letter that will be placed in his file and eventually read by the parole board.
Because when that day comes, I want them to understand that this wasn't simply a case number or a prison sentence.
There is a little girl who grew up carrying the consequences of one person's decision.
There is a family that was changed forever.
And there is a mother who has spent years watching her child fight battles she never should have had to fight.
I don't know what the parole board will ultimately decide.
But I know this:
My daughter deserves to have her life considered when they consider his freedom.
Twenty years may be the sentence he received.
But my daughter has been serving a life sentence since the day that crash happened.
And I will continue to speak for her.
I will continue to fight for her.
And when that parole hearing comes, her voice will be heard.
Because she deserves more justice than simply counting the years he spends behind bars.
She deserves for them to remember the years she has spent living with what he did.
💔 This is what the other side of a DUI looks like.
#JusticeForMyDaughter #DUIAwareness #TraumaticBrainInjury #VictimImpact #MADD
