Another Victim Of A Drunk Driver !

My name is Jennie and I am a victim of an underage drunk driver. The crash happened on April 23rd of 2000. My husband Mac and I had been out of town at a friends house. Before we could leave a very large storm moved through the area, so we decided to wait till the storm was over to leave. It was around 1:30 in the morning before it was over. I don't like being on the road that late, but that morning was Easter Sunday. We needed to get home to the kids, so we went. We were driving on Highway 80 in Mesquite Texas, and the drunk driver and his sober passenger were on a local side street, that came to a dead-end onto the service road of the highway. The drunk and the passenger were fighting. The passenger wanted the drunk to pull over and let him drive, but he would not. So instead he drove and was supposed to yield at a yield sign, but instead he came to a complete stop and then floored it. He jumped the little concrete curb that the sign was on and ran over the sign. He then jumped the curb of the service road and flew in the air off of the service road and the 30 foot embankment and onto the highway and into us. He hit us head on and my side(the passenger side). Mac was pinned in the truck but thank God he was not hurt seriously. He had three broken ribs, a cut on his chin and a large puncture wound to his leg and a broken finger. I was ejected (seat-belt broke) onto the highway, I landed right in the middle of the two vehicles. I suffered many injuries. I had two breaks to my sternum, nine breaks to my pelvis, and broke both femurs. I was taken to the nearest trauma center in Dallas, called Baylor University Medical Center of Dallas. I then went into emergency surgery to repair my legs. The surgeon put a steel rod in my right leg and removed the broken bone chips (lost over an inch of bone) and put plates and screws in my left leg just above the knee and extent upward to just above mid thigh. This break pinched the femoral artery and the surgeon wasn't sure he could save this leg due to the damage. I spent the next three and a half weeks in ICU on a respirator and in a coma. A few days after the crash the doctors realized that the tissue and skin in my legs was dying. This shirring was caused when the flesh was torn loose from the muscle and its blood supply at the impact. I had four operations cutting this dead flesh out. Then another operation almost a month later to do skin graphs to close up the holes in both legs. Due to all these surgeries and the crash I was given a total of fifteen pints of blood during these weeks. During all this time I was listed as critical and my family was being told that the doctors did not know if they could save either one of my legs or my life. I did not have surgery on my pelvis because I was in the coma and immobile. The doctor said it would heal fine that way. Late in the fourth week, I woke up and was weaned off of the respirator. I was moved to a room on the orthopedic floor and was there for another five weeks. After the skin graphs I was moved to a rehab hospital. I spent another four weeks living there learning to situp, stand, and walk again. When I was released I still had to go to out patient rehab three days a week for four to five hours per day. I did this for six months, then had to go twice a week for two to three hours per day and did this for another two months. I went from a bed, to a wheelchair, to a walker and now must walk with a cane unless in my own home. I had six surgeries total and need two or three more. I have permanent nerve damage in my left foot caused by the repair of the femoral artery, along with a dropped foot. My right leg is over an inch shorter, that causes a severe limp and back problems. I still have a lot of pain, and a lot of trouble walking. I have severe swelling problems and have developed Heterotopic bone buildup. It is a calcium formation that formed at all break sights. It has caused my right knee not to bend and is a knot the size of a large grapefruit. I have sever arthritis now and suffer from Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD) and sleeping problems. I have also found that I have hypothyroidism caused by the trauma of the entire crash and recovery as well as iron and blood issues.

As for the drunk driver. The police report and court records show his name is Charlie K. Knoerr and that he was seventeen at the time. He was driving his Mother's Mustang GT. He got a total of six stitches. His passenger received a broken collarbone. The drunk driver was tested at the hospital and his BAC was .195 almost three times the legal limit in Texas. He was charged with one felony count of intoxication assault. He plead guilty. He then received ten years of probation, one hundred and eighty days in the Dallas County jail. (I asked for leniency due to his age) He was to do community service with the local MADD chapter. He also was to attend several classes and programs. Like the Texas VIP and CAT programs. He must pay restitution to me, and has a breath tester (interlockin device) on his car. He had NO insurance at all. My Mother and Mac were forced by the hopsital to get Medicaid for me while I was in the coma. Medicaid paid a very small part and the rest was charged to me and is now on my credit.