Deanne Negri
On December 18, 2013, Deanne was returning from volunteering at a Christmas concert at the school where she teaches art. She was stopped at a stop sign when she heard the loudest sound she had ever heard and later woke up on the opposite side of the road. Deanne was hit from behind by a drunk driver leaving a Christmas party; he was on the way to pick up his children. The driver hit her car with such force that her Jeep Grand Cherokee spun around three times and snapped in half from underneath.
As a result of the crash, Deanne was diagnosed with a Traumatic Brain Injury. Her hearing was impacted to the point where she needed to be fit with hearing aids in both ears, and she suffers from severe tinnitus due to nerve damage. She has lost 85% of her field of vision and most of her peripheral vision and suffers from double vision. Deanne is now light sensitive and battles severe migraines on a daily basis, and her short term memory has been affected.
The driver in Deanne’s crash was given two years of probation and ordered to pay restitution. He only paid one quarter of the damages, and his probation has already ended. His life goes on unscathed, while Deanne continues to face difficulties daily due to the injuries she sustained by the drunk driver.