Accident survivor Kevin Brooks told a straight-forward story of how he ended up paralyzed at the very young age of 21, because of impaired driving, as he sat in his wheelchair before audiences of junior and senior high students at the Weyburn Comprehensive School on Sept. 24.

"Now I am here, not just telling my story, but also telling Brendan's story," he began, referring to an empty chair on stage, a chair reserved for the spirit of a friend who had died in the same car accident that paralyzed Kevin.

"The thing I want you all to think about when you get home, is where would you rather be sitting? Sitting in the audience listening to this presentation, sitting in the wheelchair giving the presentation, or sitting in this chair having died far too young?"

Brooks' presentation not only reached the Comp students, but he also spoke to junior high students from St. Michael, Weyburn Junior High and Midale Central during a morning presentation. Through an initiative by Jody Abel, coordinator for the Weyburn Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD), Brooks' presentation was also seen by several schools in the Southeast Cornerstone School Division.

Dalton Mainil, student representative council co-chair for WCS, said, "This presentation reached the whole student body; it really got the students' attention and I felt that it was very inspirational."

"It made you think about what if something like this happened to you. The whole presentation was very emotional," said WCS student Kelsey Pragnell.

"His story made you think, made you respect what you have and that you shouldn't take things for granted," added Comp student Vanessa Paslawski.

Kevin's story started with recollections of his youth, a life filled with skateboarding, snowboarding, playing hockey and socializing at a lot of parties. Those parties included him getting so drunk that he often passed out at night, and in most circumstances there were drugs available that he also used.

"I had a pretty reckless life, I thought I was invincible," said Brooks. "I took a lot of chances in life and I had been really lucky, since I had not hurt myself or anyone else."

His whole life changed on a June weekend in 2000. For Kevin the weekend meant special moments for his older sister who was graduating on Friday and his younger sister who had her year-end dance recital on Saturday.

"When I think about the Saturday night, I remember being able to pick up my younger sister and twirl her around; I never thought about what could happen to me by my reckless lifestyle."

For Kevin, it was a typical Saturday night and he had been invited out to a party, and even though a voice inside his head told him to stay home, he went out to the party. "I told myself I would only have a few drinks, but a few drinks led to a few more and one party led to more parties."

Because of that one decision, Kevin got behind the wheel while drunk. He was driving with an old friend Brendan when his reckless life finally caught up to him. "The last memory I have of that night was stopping at a red light; it was a crossroads for my life and my decision. To the right was home and to the left was another party, and I decided to go left."

Reports from other sources filled in what happened to Kevin, because to this day he doesn't remember the crash. The car was being driven at excessive speeds of 110 to 130 kilometers per hour in a 70 km/h zone; Kevin took a corner too fast and the car struck a median, flew airborne and upon landing, the car rolled repeatedly. The crash resulted in both Kevin and Brendan sustaining extensive injuries. Kevin damaged his spinal cord and had a collapsed lung; it also broke his collarbones, fractured and dislocated his shoulders, and cut his body into bloody shreds.

"The one thing that saved my life that night was the fact that I was wearing my seat belt," said Brooks, speaking for a moment on how important seat belts are to wear.

"I don't remember the emergency vehicles showing up, I don't remember them having to use the Jaws of Life to get us out of the vehicle or going into the emergency room at the hospital."

"When my family arrived at the hospital, they hardly recognized me. My body had swollen, there was a lot of blood and I had tubes and machines stuck in me to keep me alive. They were told that I had a 20 to 30 per cent chance that I would survive." Kevin still isn't sure how he pulled out of it, but said, "I was a fighter and I fought to live."

It was in the hospital that Kevin had his next clearest memory, waking up to a doctor yelling at him for permission to move an oxygen tube from his mouth to one in his throat, a tritherapy operation. "I couldn't talk, no matter how hard I tried. I tried yelling, but nothing was coming out."

Due the medication Kevin had to be on, he was in a hallucinating state and had to be restrained. "I was in that condition for weeks, it was my summer from hell."

It was his mother who had to tell him that he was paralyzed. "I was in denial about it, I told myself that it couldn't be true and I would walk again. Even when I couldn't wiggle my toes, I still was in denial about it."

His mother also filled in the details of the car crash for him. "I thought it wasn't possible that I crashed, I drove that road every day. I drove it fast and I often drove it while drunk."

"I started to think about my friends, who would have been in the car with me. I thought good, at least I was alone, at least I did this to myself and no one else."

But then his mom told him, "No, Kevin, you weren't alone. Brendan was in the car with you."

"When I asked about Brendan and where he was, I was told that he was dead. He didn't make it."

"It was the worst day of my life, and things have never been the same since." Kevin had to deal with depression, guilt and the loss of his legs and his friend Brendan. "I even thought briefly about taking my own life, but I had that strong feeling inside of me again saying, 'I want to live', and decided to continue to fight."

"I love this life and I appreciate life so much more. I still have my voice." Kevin said. When he was able to talk again, he told his loved ones how much he loved them.

It took many weeks for Kevin to be released from the hospital into a rehabilitation centre. Then he spent four months in that rehabilitation centre learning how to do basic things all over again. "Everything was different and there were days I felt I had lost everything that I loved. There were days I just broke down and cried, but I learned how to face up to everything that happened."

That included facing the police charges against him, facing Brendan's family, dealing with a break-up with his girlfriend of three years, and leaning on support from his friends and family to get him through the tough times so he could move forward.

Now 28, Brooks has learned to move forward with his life. He uses his story to speak to students about how to make better choices in their lives.

He encourages students to talk to someone to help them make the right choices in life, and provided his website at www.kevinbrooks.ca/ so that students can reach him if necessary. The students were also told advisors and students in SADD are also available for those who might want to learn more.