08/30/2024
Hi name is Stephanie Ronan and I’ve called Rock Mount my home for the last 20 years. My 2 kids grew up here and graduated from Nash Central High School and almost spent 11 years working at The Eye Care Center as an Optical Technician. This community is home and I am grateful to be with you this evening
I want to talk to you about something that hits close to home- literally. The story I’m about to share happened just 30 minutes from where we are right now and it’s a story that could easily happen to anyone in this room
September 29, 2018 I was driving home from a friend's house in Wilson. It was a regular night, nothing special. I was driving on E Downing Street headed home when in the blink of an eye, my life changed forever
I was told that a pick up truck was going 55 mph and had crossed over the center line and hit me head on pushing my suv 500 feet onto a ditch
I later learned that the Contentia and Rock Ridge Volunteer Fire Departments used the jaws of life to cut me out of my car and I was airlifted to Vidant in Greenville where I spent the next several months fighting to recover
Now let me share something with you that’s hard to believe; the average impaired driver has driven drunk 87 times before they are ever caught. 87 times! That means that means that drunk driver that crashed into me had likely been on our roads risking lives again and again before finally destroying mine
I suffered multiple injuries. Hardware was put in both legs, ribs, foot and neck. I had a traumatic brain injury and one my eyes had crossed causing me to see double and now I have a visual impairment that makes reading challenging
I survived an Internal Decapitation. It is a rare injury with only a 25% survival rate, and the man who did this to me? He was driving impaired, on a suspended license. I was told he got arrested 3 weeks before he crashed into me with an alleged DWI which later was thrown out
When I finally came home, I didn’t come home to the life I knew. I came home to a wheelchair, a ramp leading to my front door, and a hospital bed in my living room. My son, who had just turned 19, had to step up in ways no teenager should ever have to. My daughter, just 13, had to grow up overnight. Even our dog had to live with a neighbor because I couldn’t risk any further injuries from her jumping on the bed. I also had a nurse’s aid come 7 days a week to help bathe and dress me
This isn’t just my story—it’s a story that could easily be yours or someone you love. Every time you get behind the wheel after drinking, or let a friend do it, you’re gambling with lives. It’s not just about you; it’s about the innocent people on the road who could end up like me
I’m here tonight to ask you to do something that could save lives, maybe even your own. If you’re going out to drink make a plan. Assign a designated driver. Call an Uber. Talk to your kids early about the dangers of driving under the influence—don’t wait until high school, because they may have already been exposed to alcohol
One person’s choice to drive impaired didn’t just change my life—it devastated it. I can’t work anymore, and I live with pain every single day. But if my story can make just one person think twice before getting behind the wheel drunk, then maybe I can find some purpose in all this pain
So please, if you remember one thing this weekend, let it be this: plan ahead, and if you see someone driving erratically,don’t hesitate call 911 for an emergency or *HP for highway patrol. You could save a life, and that life could be someone you know, and love