Important public service announcement
Addi's Miracle & Survivors Against Distracted Driving
Dear public,
Over the next couple of weeks you will start to notice some changes on our website and we want to explain why. Addi's Miracle TBI Advocacy & Pedestrian awareness and Survivors Against Distracted Driving were never meant to run as separate missions. The closer we get to filing, the more we are seeing that the way we had set things up, could make things complicated. When you saw the merge of websites, that was the beginning of simplifying our mission. When it comes to our why, one mission simply exists because of the other.
For those new to our website, Addi sustained a traumatic brain injury as a pedestrian due to a distracted driver, she sustained her secondary impact injury only 18 months later, again due to a distracted driver. Through her story we saw two vital, urgent needs. Advocating for survivors navigating life fresh into the journey of living with a traumatic brain injury, additionally being a source of support and resources for those at any point of time within their journey - and preventing other families from walking this same road through education.
Going forward our work lives within one mission. To support and advocate for Traumatic brain injury survivors, their families and caregivers as well as educate pedestrian rights, safety and Distracted driving prevention.
The majority of things will remain the same. Our mission to educate on distracted driving will be through Focus To Live as well as updating where statistics are yearly by state and advocating for time behind the wheel to be as distraction free as possible.
We will still have a platform to share survivors stories. We will still offer a platform for family, friends and loved ones to share the story of their loved one that lost their life because of distracted driving. We firmly believe that these experience shares are absolutely essential in making an impact big enough to encourage change while raising real life awareness.
We will still have two different email addresses. For traumatic brain injury support and questions you would email Addismiracleadvocacy@gmail.com and for questions or support in regard's to Distracted Driving and Focus to live you would email drivealertus@gmail.com
We also want to make sure that the public is aware of three things. One being that although we are located in the state of Arizona, we are here to support, advocate and give resources to those who may need them across the United States.
Second, although our personal experience of a distracted driver vs. pedestrian accident causing our daughter a pediatric traumatic brain injury stands as our why and the reason we exist, we are completely open to supporting and advocating for those of any age and stage of their journey, any grade of a traumatic brain injury by any cause.
Third Focus To Live is an online Distracted Driving awareness curriculum available anywhere within the United States.
We will get this merge and work done as quickly as possible. Thank you so much for your patience!
The mission that started because of Addi.
The beginning of the unexpected
Life can not and will never prepare you for and unexpected journey like this. It doesn't matter the cause, the age or the steps you may take prior to finding yourself on a journey so unexpected, caused by someone else. You find yourself helpless.
For us, being parents of 10 of over 22 years at the time of Addi's accident, we never in a million years could have imagine that something so traumatic would happen. Not like this. We always felt incredibly lucky, so blessed that we watched 10 children grow without a major illness or traumatic accident. When it came to outside education ... Each child learned the exact same thing starting at the exact same age when it came to the rules of being outside and street safety. So never in our wildest dreams did we think of it to even be possible that the youngest of our crew would be the one. Yet here we stood. In what felt like a dark void.
Even with nurses and Doctors talking to us, answering to the best of their abilities with so many unknowns and immense support this came with such a desperate feeling. Where do we even GO from here. What do we do next? What questions should we be asking.
Once we were home, I knew that I didn't want another parent to feel what we were feeling if we could help it. Even if it meant just a little bit of support. A little bit of advocacy. And so, Addi's Miracle Foundation was born.
We invite you to learn more about Addi's accident and injuries, learn more about us and what our goal is by scrolling through our website. If you have any questions at all, if you need support or advocacy please reach out. It doesn't matter where you are on this journey, you don't have to do it alone.
-Katie & the Addi's Miracle Foundation team.