Posted 10:57 am Saturday, November 21, 2009
MADD ‘Difference Maker' Dies One Day After Receiving Honor
By CASEY MURPHY
Staff Writer
More than four years ago Daniel Lee Blalock was so severely injured by a drunk driver he spent more than a year in the hospital fighting for his life. On Tuesday, he was honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving for being a "difference maker" -- a volunteer who has shared his story to help others. On Wednesday, the 32-year-old died of complications from his injuries.
Staff Writer
More than four years ago Daniel Lee Blalock was so severely injured by a drunk driver he spent more than a year in the hospital fighting for his life. On Tuesday, he was honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving for being a "difference maker" -- a volunteer who has shared his story to help others. On Wednesday, the 32-year-old died of complications from his injuries.
In a letter Blalock wrote, he described the injuries he sustained on the night of April 16, 2005, when he was hit by a car driven by Joe Don Strickland in Gregg County.
"My brother was driving a car behind us and had to see the horrific crash that his little brother was in," he wrote. "My brother approached the scene to discover that the door of the car was inside my body. I was lifeless. The paramedics had to use 'The Jaws of Life' to free me from the car. When the door was pulled from my body most of my internal organs fell out. I was DOA (dead on arrival)."
The paramedics lost and revived Blalock several times as he was flown to East Texas Medical Center in Tyler, where doctors worked for an hour and a half to stabilize him. They told his family to not expect him to live and "that surviving the night would be a miracle in itself," he wrote.
"God pulled me through that long night and for the next seven weeks I was rushed to surgery many times," he said. He had many broken bones, lost a kidney, part of his liver and his colon. He spent 13 months in the hospital.
"Most of the things I could do before the crash I can no longer do now; I may never be able to do again ... I have been down a long road and it only seems to be getting longer these days. I've been through over 40 surgeries," he wrote.
Chris Johnson, chairman of the MADD National Board of Directors, presents Daniel Blalock’s award as a “Difference Maker” to his wife, Genell, and son, J.T., at MADD’s Tie One on for Safety luncheon Tuesday in Tyler.
At the time of the crash, Blalock's wife Genell was pregnant and four months later, he had to miss the birth of his daughter Briyanna. He could only see her through cell phone pictures.
"If you are a father, maybe you could understand how heart-breaking it is knowing that your baby has been born and is seriously ill but you couldn't be there for her or do anything to help her," he wrote. Because of infections Blalock contracted in the hospital, he couldn't see his daughter until she was 4 months old.
Although many bad things happened to him as a result of the crash, Blalock looked at the positive things.
"God gave me a second chance for a reason and I plan on cherishing each and every moment of it," he wrote. "Since waking up from the coma, I have become a strong Christian man and I believe that it is only by the grace of God that I am here today. I want my offender to know that I truly forgive him and pray that this is an eye opener for him before he hurts anyone else."
A Gregg County jury found Strickland, 48, of Longview, guilty of intoxicated assault in November 2006 and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in the summer of 2010.
Blalock said he lost more than organs the night of the crash.
"I lost the most precious thing in my life ... time with my family," he wrote. "Before the crash, I wasn't fully aware of how precious that really is ... but now I know. I took life for granted and I can say I will never do it again.'
MADD
At MADD's annual Tie One on for Safety event Tuesday, Blalock was honored with the victim/volunteer "Difference Maker" award. His wife and son accepted the award on his behalf.
Blalock had been in the hospital since January 2009 because of complications and was recently in an induced coma to allow his body time to rest and heal. But not long after MADD's luncheon Tuesday, he took a turn for the worse and at 7:20 p.m. Wednesday, he died.
Blalock's funeral is set for 2 p.m. today at East Mountain Baptist Church in Gladewater.
On Thursday, Blalock's wife Genell posted a statement on her husband's Caring Bridge Web site: www.caringbridge.org/visit/danielblalock.
"Daniel is home," she wrote. "After fighting the biggest fight -- one that lasted four and a half years, it's over ... He is now happy and pain free."
She said Blalock got an infection and a blood clot across his chest, which caused his death.
"He was surrounded by his children, family, church family, MADD family and last but not least, his most precious hospital family," she wrote. "He was loved -- and he loved."
She asked everyone to remember that one bad decision by a drunken driver started Blalock's fight.
She wrote, "The one most important thing that he wanted was to make sure people heard his story so that maybe he could make a difference."
