Losing your baby is one of the worst things in life anyone can experience. Getting hit by a drunk driver is another. Combining both of these things is even worse–and absolutely devastating. This is what happened to Kristian Guerrero and her husband Fabian Guerrero-Moreno when they were driving on Highway 21 in San Marcos, TX. Another car, driven by 21-year-old Shana Elliott, hit them when it crossed the center line.
The crash killed Guererro-Moreno and put Kristian in the hospital with a brain bleed. She was 19 weeks pregnant–and she lost her baby. Let’s repeat that for a second: She lost her husband and her baby. That is the worst thing that could have happened.
Doctors were forced to induce labor and she gave birth to her son Fabian James, who she named after his father. The couple was barely married for an entire year and Fabian James was their first child. Both father and son had a joint funeral on August 12th.
To make matters worse, 21-year-old Elliott has already been arrested two other times this year on felony drug charges, and admitted to being drunk that night. As of now, she remains in jail on $385,000 bond–and is currently charged with two counts of intoxicated manslaughter and one charge of intoxication assault with a vehicle. Guererro posted about what happened in a now viral Facebook message along with a picture of their totaled car, and of herself in the hospital after enduring 24 hours of labor to deliver her stillborn son:
Guerrero’s post absolutely breaks my heart, because not only does she lose her family, but she also points out that it’s sometime necessary to stop someone from making a terrible choice, stating:
“It IS okay to stop a friend from driving, it IS okay to take someone’s keys away from them when they’re showing signs of being drunk. And it IS okay to pick up the phone and call for a ride if you find yourself feeling a little too tipsy. It’s not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of maturity to be honest with yourself and know the consequences of driving drunk outweigh any kind of shame you might feel admitting you’re too drunk to drive. What’s not okay is spending the rest of your life with the guilt of knowing you’ve taken someone’s life and taken someone’s life away before they even got a chance to be in this world. It’s not worth it.”
It’s incredible to me that she can also remain so positive and compassionate despite the fact that she suffered an unfathomable loss. I sincerely hope this message influences others to take a responsible and supportive approach to drunk driving, whether they end up stopping someone else or themselves.
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