{"id":46,"date":"2017-08-01T13:03:54","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T13:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madd.org\/new-jersey\/?p=46"},"modified":"2022-05-24T13:05:45","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T13:05:45","slug":"julia-stuart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madd.org\/new-jersey\/julia-stuart\/","title":{"rendered":"Julia Stuart"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"46\" class=\"elementor elementor-46\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-5345d89 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"5345d89\" data-element_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-6c32c7c\" data-id=\"6c32c7c\" data-element_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-54bcccd elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"54bcccd\" data-element_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>\u201cAs a child, growing up I thought life would come easy to me. You grow up in your little bubble where you are safe and things come easy to you. Unfortunately my life was the other way around. On May 29, 2016 I was hit by a drunk driver. My good friend at the time invited me over, she had family and friends over as well. I could not wait to go swimming because it was the perfect day out. There wasn\u2019t a cloud in the sky. Also there\u2019s nothing better then grilled chicken and S\u2019mores! That day my friend asked me to sleepover and I had called my mom and asked but she said no. I remember being so mad because I really just didn\u2019t want to leave. My dad picked me up later that night around 9. I would have never thought that night would change my life forever.<\/p>\n<p>My friend\u2019s dad and two other men were drinking the whole day and night. It is crazy how some people&nbsp;don\u2019t have self control. My friend\u2019s dad and the two other men got in the blue Mustang parked by the garage. They were playing around with the engine. I made my way down the driveway ready to go home with my dad. As I opened the car door I saw my dad\u2019s face through the window in a panic. Sooner or later I quickly saw bright red lights through the reflection of the window. My friend\u2019s dad went in reverse 30 mph down the drive way pinning me in between the two cars crushing me from hip down. I suddenly fell screaming in pain not knowing what happened.<\/p>\n<p>I had surgeries on my knee and 2 years of physical therapy. 8 months on crutches not having a clue on how to walk. Learning how to walk again was definitely a big challenge. Since that day I didn\u2019t want to sit back and have people feeling sorry for me. I thought a lot to myself I wasn\u2019t going to let some man keep me weak because I\u2019m not weak. I wanted to make a change, and I did. That change was to make sure what happened to me didn\u2019t happen to anyone else. To end drinking and driving.<\/p>\n<p>The worst day of my life became the best day ever because I wouldn\u2019t be the person I am today. I am so thankful for everything and I really could have lost my life that day if my dad\u2019s car wasn\u2019t there but I didn\u2019t and that really made me think a lot. Life could change in an instant. I am grateful that by age 13, I never had the reason to think about my own mortality. My life consisted of being around my healthy family and friends and those I encountered at school. The worries I had were limited to tests and peer pressure. After being hit by a drunk driver and seeing the intensity in the facial expressions of the doctors in the emergency room, for the first time in my life I asked myself if this was going to be my last day on earth. Experiencing these emotions opened my eyes to as how difficult it must be for all those in society who are diagnosed with a potentially terminal condition. Since the crash, I find myself wondering what they must be thinking about with regard to their own mortality. I realized how life is too short. It is imperative to appreciate every day that we are alive. It wasn\u2019t until me having almost lost my life did I get a true sense of how true those words are. I remember thinking, while being homebound with doctor\u2019s order to not put weight on my legs, how fortunate I and so many others were to have unrestricted lives. While my peers were participating in gym class counting the minutes to when class was over, here I was at wondering if I would be able to run again. I promised myself that one day when I recovered, that I would embrace every minute that I was alive. I promised myself to be open minded as to trying new activities and enjoying everything that life has to offer.<\/p>\n<p>As a young teenager I had heard sad stories from the news media, my friends, my parents and family. Hearing stories about others who have suffered would impact me at the time, but not nearly as much as it has&nbsp;since the crash. Since going through what I went through, whenever I learn of someone being hurt or killed, I consider things that I never would have before. I wonder how much pain, fear and disability the victim experienced. I wonder if victims\u2019 family and loved ones had experienced immeasurable pain that a victim could never understand. One thing that I always correct people on is when someone is hit or killed by a drunk or drugged driver it is not an accident! It is a crash! The reason why it is not an accident is because they made the choice to get drunk or take drugs and get in the car and drive off. I really have been trying to make people understand that because it makes me so mad. I was only 13 years old when my friend\u2019s father crashed his car into my body. Being the victim of such a serious automobile crash at a such a young age allowed me to realize just how delicate the human body is. Prior to being hit, I genuinely believed I was invincible and that nothing could slow me down and nothing did slow me down.<\/p>\n<p>I have been volunteering with Mothers Against Drunk Driving &amp; sharing my story. MADD helped my family as I know they have helped many of yours. I am glad to be part of this organization. Thank you for joining me in support of MADD\u2019s lifesaving mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>-Julia Stuart<\/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>\u201cAs a child, growing up I thought life would come easy to me. You grow up in your little bubble where you are safe and things come easy to you.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/new-jersey\/julia-stuart\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Julia Stuart<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-victim-stories","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Julia Stuart - Affiliate New Jersey<\/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\/new-jersey\/julia-stuart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Julia Stuart - Affiliate New Jersey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cAs a child, growing up I thought life would come easy to me. 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