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A victim talks about getting her life back

By Erin O'Connor

Staff Writer



SOUTHWICK "For awhile, it seemed as though my mother's trademark vocalizations, her theories and opinions seemed to disappear because that drunken driver messed around with Diana David of Southwick and won some invisible battle against her," said Karly David, daughter of Diana David, who is a victim of a drunk driver.

Today, though, Diana is getting ready for the Strides for Change Walk a walk that is organized through MADD.

In 2001 on her way to go bowling, Diana heading north was struck by a drunk driver who was heading south, the driver lost control of her vehicle and hit a truck and then Diana.

The driver was three times the legal intoxication limit and transporting a child, her daughter with her.

"I rode in an ambulance with her (the child)," said Diana.

"I was laying in the ambulance and they brought in a cot with a body under a sheet. I remember saying, 'please don't tell me you put me in the ambulance with somebody that was killed?' They said, 'No, it's raining outside on her'.

There was an 11 year- old girl under the blanket and she looked up at me and I said, 'It's going to be ok honey, it's going to be ok,' and she said to me, ' I remember telling my mommy not to go so fast'. Three days later I found out that the driver was a drunk driver," said Diana.

"All that we were going through was needless and could have been helped," she said.

"It started five years of emotional turmoil," said Diana, "I suffered injuries to my neck, hips, disks, and lower back. There were emotional scars in that I went to counseling for post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS)."

Diana once a very active person and the many sports she played would never be a part of her life again.

She was told by acquaintances,

"You are not the same person that you use to be, all your sparkle is gone."

"This was tough, it would cut right through me. I would wonder, 'How do I get me back'?

"There would be days that my husband would wake up and find me crying on the bathroom floor and me saying, 'my whole life is over?"

At her lowest point Diana typed MADD into her computer search engine. MADD stands for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

"I told them my contact information and within 24 hours I received a phone call," said Diana.

"I remember them saying, 'We're here for you and we are coming to the house,'" Diana said with an excited gasp.

MADD told me, "Your life has changed and you are never going to get it back but we have a support group that can help you through," Diana said.

Diana recalls her husband saying, "You need to take all those energies that you have and learn to do something with them, you are not going to change the world but take those energies and do something positive."

At this point Diana became more involved with MADD. She began to speak at local counseling groups and schools, at Ludlow Jail and at the state capital in support of Melanie's Law.

Melanie's Law cracks down on drunk driving penalties.

"I was pre-Melanie's Law. Since Melanie's Law they have gotten stricter," said Diana.

Diana recalls her experiences with the court system.

"I remember asking them, (court officer) 'what happens to these case files as they go through the system?'

"We get so many of them that often we don't even look at them," one court officer said to Diana.

Officials briefly skimmed each case but.. did not treat her as an individual.

"This was a real eye-opener and I was very blessed to have my husband and my mother with me," said Diana.

"There were many times when the case had to be continued because the offender did not show up for trial," Diana said.

"The victim advocate through the court system is suppose to keep you abreast with everything that is occurring with your case," said Diana, "They (victim advocates) would call me at work and say, 'We don't need you here today.'

"I felt like, you know what this is my life and I'm going to be there.You are hit by a drunk driver and what has happened to your life now? What is going to happen to your life in the future? I don't know what the answer is ... I wanted to see what happens," she said.

Diana's assailant received three years of probation, a suspended jail sentence, a nine-o'clock curfew, and one year of loss of license.

"I stood next to her (her assailant) and it was a weird feeling," said Diana, "and I actually felt sorry for her. A person who had obviously had a rough life. I thought, ' She must not have a very happy life?' When I saw her I wanted to cry. I do not know what happened to the child or the persons that were hit in the truck," said Diana.

Strides for Change is a five mile walk that meets at Castle Island, South Boston on September 30. Details can be found by calling Fred Levine at 1-800-633-MADD or going to www.stridesforchange.org.

"A non-competitive walk that enables corporations and individuals to team up with MADD in keeping children and communities safe. It is a fun, healthy and safe way for local communities to come together to save more lives and prevent future injuries on their streets... One hundred percent of the net proceeds from Strides for Change will support MADD's mission to stop drunk driving, support the victim's of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking," said Fred Levine, of MADD of Massachusetts.

"Years ago there would be advertisements on television where if you had too much to drink someone would come and pick you up," said Diana, "You don't see that anymore Funds have been cut for MADD and we don't have a Western Massachusetts chapter. We are out of Boston," Diana said.

"I want other people to know that MADD is out there. We are not against alcohol. We want to educate families. We want to start at the source," said Diana.

"Before the accident," said Diana, "I was very happy and thought there is nothing that can change that after the accident I realized that this can all change in a heart beat."