Grief

On Sept. 11th It will be 15 months since my 14 y/o son Justin was fatally injured and killed by a speeding car. He was just trying to cross the road to get to the sidewalk across the street. A 21 y/0 illegal immigrant was driving a mini-van 70 mph in a 30 mph two lane road. He was weaving in and out of traffic, and just as my son was in the outer lane, he passed the car in front of him and struck Justin. My son flipped over the van and rolled off into a ditch about 1000 ft. from where he was hit... Justin died almost instantly.

There were many witnesses, as a neighbor ran to his aid, people calling 911, and the car that was passed followed the man in the mini van—Because after he hit Justin, he fled the scene, leaving him to die in a ditch while strangers rushed to save his life. They told me he was never conscious and never said a word, he had almost every bone in his body broken, and a severe head injury. I don't even leave the scene if I hit an animal, I stop to see what I could do—My son was six feet tall 200 lbs—you should have seen the damage that was done to the mini-van—all the windows were blown out, huge dent in the passenger hood, and the whole windshield was dislodged. I don't even know how he drove that vehicle about five miles to his trailer park.

The guy in the car following him was on the phone with police saying " I'm following the guy who just ran over a kid on his bike." The police told him to stop following, as he may have a weapon and police were on their way. His name was Miguel, he was 21, had no legal status, has been living here for five years, was driving a car that was uninsured, and had no driver's license.

Miguel ran to his neighbor, told him he hit a deer in his car, and that he needed to get to Lansing, Mi. Apparently the reason why he was in a rush was that he was planning to actually meet up with some people that day to return to Mexico, and was late—thus why in such a hurry. HIs neighbor drove him to Lansing, but by the time he drove Miguel there (about 90 mins away) it was all over the news that Miguel was on the run, and there was a nice picture of him getting into the vehicle and driving away. The neighbor across the street had full video surveillance cameras and police were broadcasting it all over the country, FBI and border crossings were alerted.

The man immediately alerted police as soon as he dropped off Miguel. Several hours later, Miguel was arrested. They allowed the local police of our hometown Wixom, Mi. to arrest him—our police staff were the real HEROS of the day.

Miguel pleaded not guilty and we had to go to court four or five times, he kept pleading not guilty—his lasted from June 11th until November 26th—when finally he pleaded GUILTY and Court was set December 20th. Five days before Xmas...

I will reveal the verdict and sentencing in my next chapter, and more details on how to deal with losing the light of your life. You never get over it, you just lean on God and live through it. One year and one week after my beautiful son left me, I was diagnosed with oral cancer—had major surgery removing a portion of my tongue, and I am currently undergoing radiation therapy, and have 11 more sessions ( I've completed 19 treatments), and that will also be another session about going through cancer with a broken heart.

My family, friends, and community has rallied behind me, and literally prayed and loved me back to life!! It's amazing the power of Love!!!!!!