I often wonder what my son Steven Nathaniel Wolkoff was thinking as he lay dying on the highway after a driver who was high on drugs crashed into my son's car. Any loving parent that has lost a child thinks about what was their child feelings, thoughts as they died. As parents we replay this scenario over and over for the rest of our lives. When an innocent child is killed by a driver who is drunk and/or high on drugs it is such a preventable, unnecessary, selfish cruel act by someone who takes no responsibility for their actions, has no value for another human life.
Automobile deaths caused by drunk, drugged drivers happen at a rate of 1 human being, every 6 minutes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This is a shocking fact, and almost incomprehensible as it is hard to even imagine, but it is an epidemic of tragedy that never stops happening, every 6 minutes to another innocent person and their family. None of these victims and their families ever thought this could happen to them, it always happens to "another person, another family". Not true, you and your family could be the next tragic human beings struck down, suddenly without any warning, lives ended forever.
Perhaps my Steven, other innocent victims were thinking some of these words and feeling this terror:
A LETTER FROM THE GRAVE
I went out today to enjoy the day
It was a beautiful day,
The rest of my young life in front of me
I was feeling so happy.
I got into my own car,
sure to get home in one piece,
never knowing what was coming,
something I never expected.
Now I'm lying on the pavement,
I can hear the policeman say,
"The guy that caused this wreck was drunk and high on drugs,
His voice seems far away.
How did this happen? Why me?
Why? I am so scared.
My own blood is all around me,
as I try hard not to cry.
I can hear the paramedics say,
"This person is going to die."
He is talking about me.
No, I want to live.
I will fight this and live,
There is so much I haven't seen and
done yet,
I have so many plans for the future.
I'm sure the DUI/DWI driver did not care,
while he was flying high,
because he chose to drink, take drugs, and drive,
that I would have to die.
Someone should have taught him,
that it's wrong to drink and drive,
Maybe if his mom and dad had,
I'd still be alive.
So why do people do it,
knowing that it kills innocent people like me.
Now the pain is cutting me,
like a hundred stabbing knives,
I am feeling horrible, so alone.
Now it's harder to breathe,
The paramedics are talking about having made a mistake,
They missed my airway with their procedure,
Please just reinsert the needle properly into my airway,
I can still live, but they are frozen in panic,
I cannot see anymore, but I can hear everything.
No one is touching me,
someone hold me,
comfort me,
let me feel your hands.
Stay calm, don't panic,
think of something else,
Maybe I am having a nightmare,
wake up, no I can't,
this is really happening.
I have so much pain, it hurts so much,
I am cold, so frightened, help me, please.
Mom, dad, my family, my friends, help me,
Save me, I need you to take care of me,
Where are you?
I am losing my hearing, I am about to die,
Tell my brother and sister not to be too sad,
Tell Mom and Dad to be brave,
I will miss you all.
My breath is getting shorter,
My heart feels like its exploding,
I am shaking,
I'm so scared.
These are my final moments,
I feel myself slipping away,
and I'm so unprepared.
I wish that you could hold me,
Mom and Dad, as I lie here and die.
I wish that I could say,
I love you and good-bye.
