Tonight’s PBF reader submitted volunteer story comes from Jamie, the sister of a young man who was in a terrible car accident after he sent a text to a friend and took his eyes off the road for just a moment.
Jamie, her husband and two of her brother’s close friends started UnSend: A Chance Bothe Foundation to raise awareness about texting and driving.
Answering a text message takes your attention off the road for approximately 5 seconds, during which time you drive the length of an ENTIRE FOOTBALL FIELD.
You may read more about the foundation below:
Jamie’s Story
On January 24th, 2012, my family and I received a phone call that would change our lives forever. My brother, Chance, had been in a horrific accident on his way home from college one morning. He took his eyes off of the road for a brief second to text a friend, missed a curve, flew off abridge, and down a ravine.
Luckily a pedestrian saw the accident take place, and he along with a few others ran over to pull him out of his truck 20 seconds before the vehicle was engulfed inflames.
Chance was sent via life flight to a trauma hospital in San Antonio and his injuries were extremely severe -his skull was 75 percent fractured, he has brain damage in 3 of the 6 lobes, his nerves had sheared from his brain (similar to shaken baby syndrome), he had a broken neck and broken sternum, his forehead / eye sockets / nose / cheeks /and sinuses were all completely crushed, he had a collapsed lung, and a compound fracture on his left leg, and a broken right leg. Upon his check-in he was graded at a 2 out of 100, with 0 being dead.
The series of events that followed were terrifying and traumatic as his life hung in the balance for days. Chance survived this accident, he is walking again and expected to be released from the hospital in August. He is lucky, but that is not always the case.
My husband and I, along with two of Chance’s closest friends, are co-founders of UnSend: A Chance Bothe Foundation.
Our goal and mission through this foundation is to spread education and awareness on this contemporary and relevant issue. We at UnSend pledge to make people everywhere more aware of the dangers of texting and driving. We will reach out to our communities, leaders and loved ones in an attempt to get some control over an issue that is claiming lives.
Make a pledge and take a stand to “Keep It In Your Pants,” that text can wait, your life cannot. Don’t let a text message be your famous last words.
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Additional reader volunteer stories:
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Great Post..
As a Police Officer I see a lot of youths that text and drive, it’s treated like its a necessity… I hope groups like Unsend can change their minds
Texting can be so dangerous 🙁
That is such an amazing charity. I’m so glad/amazed that Chance is doing so well.
Texting while driving, and even talking on the phone and dialing is so dangerous. It’s great this charity is trying to change people’s views on it.
thank you for using your website as a platform for increasing awareness of important issues such as this.
I got goosebumps from the last sentence… So scary I’m never texting and driving
i thought the same thing. jamie did a great job sharing her story in an emotional and moving way… and a way that will hopefully cause a change in peoples’ actions.
Thank you so much for sharing, Jamie. My chest is tight and I can barely breathe. This story was so moving, in more ways than one. Text + driving is not something that I always prohibit in my car.
That is an incredible story and I’m surprised of the outcome, but of course in a good way. Good lord, I see so many people texting and weaving out to the other lanes. I hate it! Hate it hate it!
Great post!
The provime of Canada that I live in has now passed a law making the use of handheld devices ILLEGAL while driving. So .. .no texting or talking if you have to use your hands to do it!
I hope enforcement goes better in your area. Sadly the passed the same law in WA state and it is still extremely common to see the head down towards the lap while someone is texting and driving.
This is such an important topic and one that people don’t take as seriously as they should! Everyone thinks that it won’t happen to them but it is such a dangerous thing to do while driving and things can happen so suddenly behind the wheel! I’m so glad that Jamie had the opportunity to share this story with your readers 🙂
Thank goodness Chance made it through! God bless his sister and family for starting this foundation. I don’t think people should even make phone calls, much less text.
It’s so easy to forget how dangerous it is and just send a quick text! These stories are great reminders to just put your phone away!
AT&T has commercials now about the dangers of texting and driving. It’s amazing how something that seems so innocent can cause such damage.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I have made my children pledge to not text and drive. It scars the be-jeezers out of me. I also do not text and drive and rarely talk on the phone when I do drive.
This story gave me chills! So amazing he’s walking & going to be released from the hospital 😀
I’m so glad Chance will be okay; unfortunately that is not the case for many others. May God bless his family and the foundation.
I personally do not text and drive (although sometimes it is tempting), but I frequently worry about being a victim of other distracted drivers.
Thank you Jaime for sharing. This is such an important issue that needs to be talked about more! I see this so much with high schoolers– the text can wait!
I got in to an accident Freshman year of college texting and driving. I go to UCF and traffic on one road near my college (AlafayaTrail) constantly backs up, (I’m sure Julie can attest to the awful amounts of cars everywhere) well sure enough one day I was texting and driving and didn’t realize all the cars in front of me had stopped. Once I looked up it was too late and I knew I was going to hit the car in front of me. I was going about 60mph and had about 30 yards to slam on the brakes causing a three car pile up. I walked away without a scratch and know everyday I am lucky. I am so happy he made it out of this alive and hope he can be a lesson to others!
That must have been a terrible experience for you and frankly I admire your honesty in posting about it – if just one single person learns from your story it is worth it.
Thank you.
oh wowww this is so powerful! I’m glad that there’s people reminding us, including myself! It’s good to watch out for ourselves and others who are driving around us.
Wow thank you for sharing your story & raising awareness! Sometimes we have to learn the hard way but I am so glad your brother will be out of hospital in August.
What a powerful story. So many people need to read this! I still see people (even police officers) texting on the road, and it’s scary to think what could happen. I’m so glad that your brother is doing better. Blessings to you and your family!
What a moving story. Is there a link I can tweet or put as my facebook status so that more people can learn about this event? It scares me to death about how many people I love in my life who constantly text and drive and don’t realize that they’re jeopardizing both their lives and the lives of those who share the road.
This sounds great….every one (not just teens) need to be more aware of their texting while driving …I know I have been guilty of it myself …thinking that I only text while at a stop light but then I find myself sending a quick reply a sec later…..its not good….your message is!!!!
Do you have a Facebook page on it….so many kids should “LIKE” that.
Hi Kathy,
We do have a facebook page, it’s:
https://www.facebook.com/chanceryanbothe?ref=ts
You can ‘like’ us there 😉
Jaime
Thank you so much for sharing this story! I am so glad that your brother is getting better and that he is going to be released in August 🙂
Beautiful story, it’s so scary to see people texting on the road, you immediately notice it, the car always swings all over the road. So dangerous. I take the pledge for sure, always have though. Don’t text and drive, it’s not that hard!!
SO SCARY! Glad he has made it and come so far… Very touching story and a grand reminder to keep it in your pants!
Thank you for sharing your story! It is such an important message to send.
I’m so sorry to hear that that happened! 🙁 Thank you for trying to get the message out about the dangers of texting and driving. I just got my permit so I will take these kinds of stories to mind all the time.
What a touching story! Thank you for sharing it. And I love their motto of “keep it in your pants”. It sounds a little humourous but its so true! I’ll be sure to say that to friends with their phones out in the car.
This is a great story… one that really touched me because my name is Jamie, and my younger brother’s name is Chance. How crazy!
Your story has really touched me. 5 years ago tomorrow, June 26th, 5 beautiful young women from the town I live in, Faiport NY were killed just days after their high school graduation. It made national news not just because it was such a tragedy but because the young woman driving the car was texting. She lost control of her car as she was over-correcitng after drifting off the road a bit.
This is such an important issue that needs to be brought to the attention of every single driver but especially our young. It’s just not worth your life or the lives of others to text and drive. I’m so sorry for what your brother and your family has had to go through. My thoughts are with you all.
Bridgette
I’d like to thank you all for the comments regarding Chance and apologize that it’s taken me so long to respond. Chance was released from the hospital yesterday and his journey to spread awareness regarding texting and driving has started. He was interviewed by CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox yesterday in Houston and his interviews are below.
Meet Chance:
ABC:
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/health&id=8758160
CBS:
http://www.khou.com/community/Second-Chance-Miraculous-survive-preaches-dangers-of-texting-while-driving-164673416.html
FOX:
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/19173654/2012/08/01/man-named-chance-gets-second-chance