by James Briscoe

Created on: May 03, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

On June 1, 2003 I lost my brother to a drunk driver. This alone brought an unbearable pain to my heart, but it was worse than it sounds. The drunk driver who killed my brother was my brother. I feel like I always knew it would happen one day. My father's side of our family consisted of generations of alcoholics, including myself and my younger brother. He got his drivers license in 2001, and every time we spoke after that I reminded him to not drink and drive. He was reckless in a lot of ways, and I knew he would be irresponsible when it came to this issue. My brother celebrated his twenty-first birthday March 29, 2003; two months later he was dead on the hood of his own car.

The impact of losing a loved one to drinking and driving is immeasurable. My brother and I were best friends, and now I would never see him again. There were nights when we would talk for hours on the phone about things we would not discuss with others. Losing him destroyed my life. It was more than just me however, his death impacted everyone who loved him. My mother has never been the same. She cries at night, and every time I look in her eyes I see an emptiness that will never be filled. She spent 18 years raising her son alone, and now all she had put into that was gone. My brother also had a girlfriend at the time whom he had been with for 5 years, and she was pregnant! Now, 5 years later, I have a nephew who has no father. A child will spend his entire life without his fraternal influence.

This is a true story about one of the many people who lose their lives each year to drunk driving. As crazy as it sounds, my brother was one of the lucky ones. There are other drunk drivers who kill children, or another persons loved one. There are really no words that can describe the pain associated with losing a loved one, especially when that loved one is lost due to foolish irresponsibility.

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