If you or anyone you know even thinks about driving after drinking, Brett Shaw hopes you remember his wife Sancy, killed in a Christmas Eve crash.
She and their 6-year-old daughter Charlee were hit on Interstate 70 near Genesee when a woman in a pickup truck lost control and crossed over the median. Colorado State Patrol said alcohol and marijuana may have contributed to the woman losing control. She also died. Charlee’s now at Children’s Hospital Colorado.
“I have seen the pictures of our family suburban. I’ve seen medical pictures of my daughter. She should not be here,” said Shaw, in the lobby of the hospital he has spent so much time in over the last week. “She may never be able to speak again based on the area of the brain that was damaged so severely, but Lord willing, she’s going to live.”
Shaw said he is still trying to wrap his head around how to move forward with Charlee and his three boys. More immediately, he’s finding positivity in the message he can spread ahead of New Year’s Eve.
“There’s nothing wrong with going out and celebrating life, celebrating the end of the year, beginning of the new year, a new start," he said. "There’s nothing wrong with that. But we have the opportunity before we go to make a conscious decision to be safe. To plan ahead. To take care of one another. Be advocates for life.”
Shaw said that Sancy, a teacher who loved the outdoors, embodied that mentality, which added to the difficulty of telling his boys their mother was gone. He said the hardest conversation he’s ever had to have came on Christmas morning.
“She raised four amazing, God-loving kids. She leaves us with hearts full of joy and laughter. She leaves with us a sense of selflessness a sense of hard work, perseverance. A love of life,” he said.
As many spend the next day coming up with their new-year resolutions, Shaw said he wants to remind all of us of what’s important. That a genuine, 'I love you' and a kiss before running out the door, like the one he had on Christmas Eve, is a simple thing that can help us grow closer to the ones we love.
“Our time on this earth is unknown. Tomorrow could be my last day. Please don’t take your loved ones for granted.," he said. "I can sit here, with confidence, and say my wife and I had an extremely loving, caring, respectful relationship that enabled us to grow and flourish.”