Rick, As a survivor of a DWI accident, I have really enjoyed your web site! It's helped me appreciate being alive! I have attached 4 pictures from my accident - 2/17/99. Yes, that's me in the car! The Hatch Valley News Editor happened to be driving by just after the wreck and took the first "set" of pictures. "Jaws" had to be used to get me out of the 1993 Ford Tempo. The second and third picture is what my leg looked like about 1 month after the incident. Every bone in the midsection of my foot was crushed, broken and/or dislocated. The ball of my foot - well, that was completely shattered. The heel was crushed and my fibula was broken in several places. The heel and fibula have plates. Screws and pins have held my foot together like a skewed little pig (I keep reffering to my foot as "the football."). My right knee had to be sewn up - but at least it wasn't broken. My other foot was also injured but at least it wasn't broken. Other injuries also occured.

The last picture is from when I was the first time I saw the car after the accident and before it was taken by the insurance company. I'm doing better now, but it is still not known if I will be able to bear weight on my leg or not.

As for the kid who hit me - a 16 year old, uninsured, unlicensed, DWI, etc. - who has pleaded "innocent" this last Monday, was found pinned under the dash board area. He had been going over 55 MPH on a one lane bridge (a posted no passing zone).

I had no place to go without hitting someone else or going into the Rio Grande River (NM) that is in the background. Just before he hit me, he had passed out on the seat! The courts will have his hearing sometime in the next 60 days or so! I had 112 feet of skid marks before he hit me head-on.

I praise God that I was on my way to pick up my son instead of this happening just after picking him up!! I'm also thankful that I survived instead of being dead!!! If my other injuries had been worse, I could have easily been!

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