{"id":12237,"date":"2018-07-05T15:03:23","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T15:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madd.org\/?p=12237"},"modified":"2022-08-01T08:24:26","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T08:24:26","slug":"sometimes-grief-overwhelms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madd.org\/sometimes-grief-overwhelms\/","title":{"rendered":"Sometimes grief overwhelms &#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">A JULY TO REMEMBER\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..ALWAYS<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_123633\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-123633\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/ColleenSheehey-Church-headshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"250\" class=\"size-full wp-image-123633\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-123633\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MADD National President Colleen Sheehey-Church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By Colleen Sheehey-Church<br \/>\nMothers Against Drunk Driving National President<\/p>\n<p>I hope you don\u2019t mind if I just give you my heart and soul this month?<\/p>\n<p>Often, I aim to have a stiff upper lip &#8230; to keep my head high &#8230; to help others who are hurting from the immense pain and grief drunk and drugged driving inflicts on so many people. After all, I know that as the president of MADD, I want to lift up the people who love the 10,000 people killed or the roughly 390,000 injured each year. That&#8217;s literally my job, so I put on a smile and share my beloved, Dustin, with them and the story of his death.<\/p>\n<p>But recently changes in my life have cause me to pause and reflect on losing my dear, dear son.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-12237 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-medium'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/dustin3-300x225-1.jpg'><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/dustin3-300x225-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium lazyload\" alt=\"\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;width:100%;height:75%;max-width:300px;\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/dustin3-300x225-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:100%;height:75%;max-width:300px;\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/colleenfbblog-197x300-1.png'><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" data-src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/colleenfbblog-197x300-1.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium lazyload\" alt=\"\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 197px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 197\/300;width:100%;height:152.28%;max-width:197px;\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/colleenfbblog-197x300-1.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:100%;height:152.28%;max-width:197px;\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/dustinandcolleen-300x262-1.png'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"262\" data-src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/dustinandcolleen-300x262-1.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium lazyload\" alt=\"\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/262;width:100%;height:87.33%;max-width:300px;\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"262\" src=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/dustinandcolleen-300x262-1.png\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:100%;height:87.33%;max-width:300px;\" \/><\/noscript><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>July\u2019s come and go for our family &#8230; they are different in every way.\u00a0We still participate. Barbeques, fireworks, gatherings, weddings, little children running around\u2026..but they are all different now.<\/p>\n<p>Somehow \u2026 sometimes \u2026 my husband and I decline invitations because of the heartache that still surrounds July.<\/p>\n<p>You see, July 10<sup>th<\/sup>, 2004, \u00a0my son was killed by a drunk and drugged driver.\u00a0He was doing what many young adults do\u00a0\u2014 hanging out with friends and enjoying the summer. He and his friends decided to drive to get pizza. But the driver had drugs and alcohol in her system. She lost control of the vehicle, and it veered off into the river. The driver and another person escaped. My Dustin did not, and I often wander about his last moments and how scared he must have been.<\/p>\n<p>We seem to want that day to go by unnoticed \u2013 but it never does. The heartache is real, the absence of his laughter is real, thinking of what he would being doing is real.\u00a0 Our <em><u>new normal<\/u><\/em> is real.<\/p>\n<p>I know I write these words and perhaps it doesn\u2019t sound like I am in a better place after all these years &#8230; I am, but it is different without your child.\u00a0 You move forward, and I have chosen to pick \u00a0up the banner, as so many of you have and advocate for a world of NO MORE VICTIMS\u00ae.\u00a0 I advocate to save lives and to support the families we could not save from this heartache of losing a loved one to a 100% preventable crime of drunk driving.<\/p>\n<p>My life has changed, my husband and other son, Casey\u2019s life has changed.<\/p>\n<p>I do miss Dustin so terribly &#8230; So this is why I ask all of you to take personal responsibility this holiday to plan ahead for your festivities. <a class=\"text-red\" href=\"\/get-involved\/designated-driver-pledge\/\">Plan to have a non-drinking designated driver<\/a> if your day include alcohol.<\/p>\n<p>And remember, YOU ALWAYS HAVE A PLACE AT MADD!<\/p>\n<p>If you need to talk, get a hug, or find a new way to cope\u2026.please call us,\u00a0 we are here for you. The 24\/7 National Victim Help Line is 1-877-MADD-HELP. We want to help. We want to be here.<\/p>\n<p>Until we speak again, I love you all. My heart is with you, be safe over the holiday and continue the fight MADD started in 1980 and moves closer every day, a time when there will be NO MORE VICTIMS\u00ae.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A JULY TO REMEMBER\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..ALWAYS By Colleen Sheehey-Church Mothers Against Drunk Driving National President I hope you don\u2019t mind if I just give you my heart and soul this month? Often,&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/madd.org\/sometimes-grief-overwhelms\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Sometimes grief overwhelms &#8230;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[176],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-drunk-driving","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sometimes grief overwhelms ... - MADD<\/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\/sometimes-grief-overwhelms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sometimes grief overwhelms ... - MADD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A JULY TO REMEMBER\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026..ALWAYS By Colleen Sheehey-Church Mothers Against Drunk Driving National President I hope you don\u2019t mind if I just give you my heart and soul this month? 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