{"id":516,"date":"2018-03-12T14:59:48","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T14:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madd.org\/missouri\/?p=516"},"modified":"2022-05-25T09:14:16","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T09:14:16","slug":"fighting-survivors-like-tabitha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madd.org\/missouri\/fighting-survivors-like-tabitha\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting for survivors like Tabitha"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"516\" class=\"elementor elementor-516\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-2a788a21 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"2a788a21\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-58e2d929\" data-id=\"58e2d929\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-48bbe547 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"48bbe547\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-518 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/missouri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/59\/2022\/05\/the-prez-photo.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"122\" height=\"152\">By Colleen Sheehey-Church<br>\nNational President<br>\nMothers Against Drunk Driving\u00ae<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone dies in a drunk driving crash.<\/p>\n<p>Tabitha Clark of Missouri is someone who didn\u2019t die. However, she was severely injured and is now confined to a wheel chair, unable to walk or talk.<br>\nI was with Tabitha while at Missouri\u2019s State Capitol in Jefferson City for an event called \u201cLight it up for Life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The goal of the MADD staff and volunteers was to convince the legislators to continue funding Sobriety Checkpoints, a critical component in MADD\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For me though, seeing Tabitha and her mother, Yvonne, had the most impact.<\/p>\n<p>I had met them a month earlier at a fundraising event in Springfield. Now 20 years old, Tabitha is strong and unwavering in her fight to live life to the fullest.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-519 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/missouri\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/59\/2022\/05\/tabatha-in-blog-225x300-1.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"282\" height=\"376\"><br>\n<strong>The Crash<\/strong><br>\nIt was two years ago when everything changed for her. Going home after a night of bowling, Tabitha was a passenger in a car. A drunk driver ran a red light and ripped through the car in which Tabitha was riding.<\/p>\n<p>As with every drunk driving crash, this one was 100% preventable.<\/p>\n<p>When you look into Tabitha\u2019s eyes, you know exactly why we work so hard to eliminate drunk driving.<\/p>\n<p>You understand why Sobriety Checkpoints and Ignition Interlock Devices and stronger laws and the support of our law enforcement officers is so important.<\/p>\n<p>We need your support in all of those efforts so that one day there will be NO MORE VICTIMS\u00ae.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Colleen Sheehey-Church National President Mothers Against Drunk Driving\u00ae Not everyone dies in a drunk driving crash. Tabitha Clark of Missouri is someone who didn\u2019t die. However, she was severely&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/missouri\/fighting-survivors-like-tabitha\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Fighting for survivors like Tabitha<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-uncategorized","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fighting for survivors like Tabitha - Affiliate Missouri<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/missouri\/fighting-survivors-like-tabitha\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fighting for survivors like Tabitha - Affiliate Missouri\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Colleen Sheehey-Church National President Mothers Against Drunk Driving\u00ae Not everyone dies in a drunk driving crash. 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