~ Christian ~
Gone but not forgotten: a precious child lost to the world, due to one teenager's bad decision on the roads
FOREVER YOUNG
{Click here to listen while you read: Somewhere over the rainbow, sung by Eva Cassidy}
This is Christian, a "beautiful little boy” as described by his mother, Sheyna.
By the age of 4, he was riding his bicycle with no training wheels, with great balance and control. He would jump up and down while playing video games!
By 5, Christian loved to help his father, James, fix their cars and bikes whenever he got out his toolbox. Eventually, James gave his son a new wrench. He wrapped tape around the center, so Christian knew which tool was his very own. With his strong and determined personality, Sheyna often thought of Christian becoming a lawyer one day.
At 6, Christian followed in the footsteps of his police and military family, by proudly joining the Safety Patrol at his school.
{Click here to listen while you read: Somewhere over the rainbow, sung by Eva Cassidy}
This is Christian, a "beautiful little boy” as described by his mother, Sheyna.
By the age of 4, he was riding his bicycle with no training wheels, with great balance and control. He would jump up and down while playing video games!
By 5, Christian loved to help his father, James, fix their cars and bikes whenever he got out his toolbox. Eventually, James gave his son a new wrench. He wrapped tape around the center, so Christian knew which tool was his very own. With his strong and determined personality, Sheyna often thought of Christian becoming a lawyer one day.
At 6, Christian followed in the footsteps of his police and military family, by proudly joining the Safety Patrol at his school.
As the oldest child in his family, Christian was big brother and best friend to Justin, two years younger, and a loving and sweet sibling to his baby sister, Makenna.
Here are the portraits of all Sheyna’s children, on display in their home. Sheyna updates the photos of her growing kids as time goes by, but there is one picture that will never change. Christian passed away six years ago, in a car accident, at the tender age of 6 years old.
Here are the portraits of all Sheyna’s children, on display in their home. Sheyna updates the photos of her growing kids as time goes by, but there is one picture that will never change. Christian passed away six years ago, in a car accident, at the tender age of 6 years old.
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND 2006
The young family was all together on that holiday weekend—a treat for a military family. They went swimming, then piled into the car and drove to Maryland for dinner. Before leaving, caring mom Sheyna switched the boys' car seats around to allow Christian, the biggest, to have more leg room. They enjoyed a fun meal together, with Christian eating his favorite chicken nuggets.
The young family was all together on that holiday weekend—a treat for a military family. They went swimming, then piled into the car and drove to Maryland for dinner. Before leaving, caring mom Sheyna switched the boys' car seats around to allow Christian, the biggest, to have more leg room. They enjoyed a fun meal together, with Christian eating his favorite chicken nuggets.
 |  |
When they had finished eating, the parents buckled the kids back into their car seats and they set off on the highway. After less than a mile, Sheyna and James decided to turn around, to show the kids the scenic route home. As they waited for a green light in the turn lane, a car traveling in the next lane crashed into them and changed their lives forever.
The impact completely crushed the back of their car, flinging it upside down across the intersection, where it smashed down onto its roof. When the emergency crews arrived, the only conscious passenger was little Makenna, trapped in the back seat, screaming. It took hours to cut the family out of the wreck.
Regaining consciousness in the hospital, James and Sheyna were given the devastating news. Their tiny girl had broken both her legs and her nose. She was in a cast from her armpits to her toes for seven weeks. One of their boys was in a coma, which lasted six weeks. He had a crushed skull and permanent brain damage, a broken leg and 30% chemical burns from gasoline. Finally, they were told that their second son, Justin, had died.
Due to their injuries, a week passed before Sheyna and James could visit their comatose son. When they saw him, wrapped in bandages, they realized that an awful mistake had been made. This was their beloved Justin lying in the hospital bed before them, meaning it was their eldest child, Christian, who had passed away. They had spent a week grieving for the wrong child.
Sheyna lost all her memories of the three weeks around the accident. In the hospital, she would wake to find herself surrounded by concerned family and friends. She would see James, and Makenna in her cast, and ask each time in a panic, "where are the boys?" only to be given the same horrifying news over and over again.
The last memory Sheyna has of Christian is of walking him home from the bus stop, after school. They held hands and he had his blue bag on his back. Sheyna kept Christian's backpack, with his school report in it. He had drawn smiley faces all down the column for what would become his last day at school.
The impact completely crushed the back of their car, flinging it upside down across the intersection, where it smashed down onto its roof. When the emergency crews arrived, the only conscious passenger was little Makenna, trapped in the back seat, screaming. It took hours to cut the family out of the wreck.
Regaining consciousness in the hospital, James and Sheyna were given the devastating news. Their tiny girl had broken both her legs and her nose. She was in a cast from her armpits to her toes for seven weeks. One of their boys was in a coma, which lasted six weeks. He had a crushed skull and permanent brain damage, a broken leg and 30% chemical burns from gasoline. Finally, they were told that their second son, Justin, had died.
Due to their injuries, a week passed before Sheyna and James could visit their comatose son. When they saw him, wrapped in bandages, they realized that an awful mistake had been made. This was their beloved Justin lying in the hospital bed before them, meaning it was their eldest child, Christian, who had passed away. They had spent a week grieving for the wrong child.
Sheyna lost all her memories of the three weeks around the accident. In the hospital, she would wake to find herself surrounded by concerned family and friends. She would see James, and Makenna in her cast, and ask each time in a panic, "where are the boys?" only to be given the same horrifying news over and over again.
The last memory Sheyna has of Christian is of walking him home from the bus stop, after school. They held hands and he had his blue bag on his back. Sheyna kept Christian's backpack, with his school report in it. He had drawn smiley faces all down the column for what would become his last day at school.
Christian was buried in Texas on June 29th, one day before his 7th birthday. His wrench with the tape around it was placed with him.
James memorialized his son's favorite tool in a tattoo on his arm, with a star and the wise words of an ancient proverb: "This too shall pass." Sheyna's tattoos of flowers and stars acknowledge all her children, but she added a dragonfly for her sweet boy who flitted away.
James memorialized his son's favorite tool in a tattoo on his arm, with a star and the wise words of an ancient proverb: "This too shall pass." Sheyna's tattoos of flowers and stars acknowledge all her children, but she added a dragonfly for her sweet boy who flitted away.
 |  |
CHRISTIAN’S LEGACY
When a child is born, a light comes into the world of all those who know and love him. Your first child teaches you how to be a parent. You witness the miracle of creation and watch in wonder as a tiny baby grows into a person with his own unique character and view of the world. You feel for the first time the terrifying and awesome love of a parent for their child. Christian taught his parents all this.
 | With his tender care, Christian also taught Justin and Makenna to be loving older siblings. James and Sheyna were blessed with another child, who they named Brooklyn Grace, because she came to them by the Grace of God. Brooklyn only knows her eldest brother from pictures and stories - she never got to meet him. After many, many years of being a stay at home mom, nursing a traumatized Makenna back to health, and helping Justin learn to live with a paralyzed left side, as well as daily medications and frequent hospital visits, Sheyna finally decided to extend her work beyond her home. Determined to try to save others from the devastation that her family suffered, Sheyna became a police officer. Her work includes protecting road users from reckless and irresponsible drivers, who risk their own and other people's lives. |
THE NUMBERS
Every year, at least 1.2 million people are killed, and 50 million injured, in road accidents around the world. In the USA, driver error plays a significant part in more than 60% of fatal collisions. 90 people are killed on US roadways every day - that is one death every 16 minutes. This number is declining slowly, but if nearly two thirds of crashes are preventable, by drivers choosing to be sober and not weave out of their lane, to respect the speed limit, to remain alert and not divert their attention to cell phones, food, make-up, the radio, their pet, a cigarette or other distractions, conceivably over 19,000 people could be saved every year.
The car that smashed into Sheyna and her family was just a compact car, not a powerful vehicle. The driver was a teenager who had never been in trouble before. He decided to race his friends along the highway from work, reaching speeds of 85-90 mph in a 45 mph area. The force from the impact at this speed squashed the family's car to 59% of its original size, reducing the distance between the headrests in the back to the headrests in the front from 37” to just 11”.
Every year, at least 1.2 million people are killed, and 50 million injured, in road accidents around the world. In the USA, driver error plays a significant part in more than 60% of fatal collisions. 90 people are killed on US roadways every day - that is one death every 16 minutes. This number is declining slowly, but if nearly two thirds of crashes are preventable, by drivers choosing to be sober and not weave out of their lane, to respect the speed limit, to remain alert and not divert their attention to cell phones, food, make-up, the radio, their pet, a cigarette or other distractions, conceivably over 19,000 people could be saved every year.
The car that smashed into Sheyna and her family was just a compact car, not a powerful vehicle. The driver was a teenager who had never been in trouble before. He decided to race his friends along the highway from work, reaching speeds of 85-90 mph in a 45 mph area. The force from the impact at this speed squashed the family's car to 59% of its original size, reducing the distance between the headrests in the back to the headrests in the front from 37” to just 11”.
GOOD DECISIONS SAVE LIVES
Sheyna’s message is this: life is all about decisions. We make hundreds of small decisions every day. But we need to make the right decisions when it comes to the big ones.
Every fatality we read about in the news, hear about on the radio, or see a memorial to on the side of the road was somebody’s child. They may also have been a father, or a mother, a brother or sister, or someone's best friend.
How many people will die on the roads tomorrow? How many lives could we save?
~ What can we do? ~
{Listen while you read: If I die young, sung by The Band Perry}
~ SHARE THIS MESSAGE
There is no happy ending to this story. There is nothing that will ever let James and Sheyna's big, close-knit family and friends around the world forget that they lost a son, a brother, a grandchild, a nephew, a beautiful boy named Christian. But we can marvel at the strength of a family that has come through a terrible tragedy and that still lives with it as they help Justin struggle through multiple surgeries and frequent set-backs. We can be grateful for a father who supports not only his family, but his whole country, by working for the US military. We can say "thank you" to a mother who protects not only her children, but her whole community as a police officer. We can listen to her message and share it with everyone we know.
~ MAKE A DIFFERENCE
We can be motivated by a boy who left a lifetime of memories and inspiration for all those who knew and loved him, and for all of us whose lives will be forever changed because of his legacy. We can commit to making GOOD DECISIONS on the roads and SAVE LIVES.
Since meeting this family, I kiss my kids and tell them I love them every time I strap them into their car seats. I do my very best to be a thoughtful, attentive, responsible and considerate driver. But I need the other drivers around me on the roads to do the same, to protect me and my family. We can protect each other by remembering Christian and all those we’ve lost in road accidents. Stay informed by 'liking' Good Decisions Save Lives on Facebook.
~ NEVER FORGET
In honor of all those who have died on the roads, I have created a "Wall of Light". If you lost someone you love in a road accident and would like them to be remembered in this way, please e-mail me for details.
~ I leave you with the same words Sheyna uses each time we part: “Drive safely.” ~
~ SHARE THIS MESSAGE
There is no happy ending to this story. There is nothing that will ever let James and Sheyna's big, close-knit family and friends around the world forget that they lost a son, a brother, a grandchild, a nephew, a beautiful boy named Christian. But we can marvel at the strength of a family that has come through a terrible tragedy and that still lives with it as they help Justin struggle through multiple surgeries and frequent set-backs. We can be grateful for a father who supports not only his family, but his whole country, by working for the US military. We can say "thank you" to a mother who protects not only her children, but her whole community as a police officer. We can listen to her message and share it with everyone we know.
~ MAKE A DIFFERENCE
We can be motivated by a boy who left a lifetime of memories and inspiration for all those who knew and loved him, and for all of us whose lives will be forever changed because of his legacy. We can commit to making GOOD DECISIONS on the roads and SAVE LIVES.
Since meeting this family, I kiss my kids and tell them I love them every time I strap them into their car seats. I do my very best to be a thoughtful, attentive, responsible and considerate driver. But I need the other drivers around me on the roads to do the same, to protect me and my family. We can protect each other by remembering Christian and all those we’ve lost in road accidents. Stay informed by 'liking' Good Decisions Save Lives on Facebook.
~ NEVER FORGET
In honor of all those who have died on the roads, I have created a "Wall of Light". If you lost someone you love in a road accident and would like them to be remembered in this way, please e-mail me for details.
~ I leave you with the same words Sheyna uses each time we part: “Drive safely.” ~
Thanks to Sheyna, James, Justin, Makenna and Brooklyn for bravely sharing their story, to help others. Thanks to all those who have left messages of support for this amazing family on my blog posts about them, particularly Sheyna's mom, Ruth, who left a beautiful tribute to her daughter in a comment on this post about Sheyna.
Thanks to all those who have helped me with this project. There are so many wonderful, kind people in this world and you all make it a better place xox
Statistics based on averages and sourced from the World Health Organisation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
All photos are copyrighted and may not be saved, printed, posted elsewhere or used in any way without permission from both Rebecca Berra and the Marshall family. Watermarked images © Rebecca Berra Photography. All others used by kind permission of Sheyna Marshall.
Thanks to all those who have helped me with this project. There are so many wonderful, kind people in this world and you all make it a better place xox
Statistics based on averages and sourced from the World Health Organisation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
All photos are copyrighted and may not be saved, printed, posted elsewhere or used in any way without permission from both Rebecca Berra and the Marshall family. Watermarked images © Rebecca Berra Photography. All others used by kind permission of Sheyna Marshall.
"Always in my heart"
RSS Feed