In a split second
Junette Clayborn is a retired teacher from Harrison and a bona fide mother against drunk driving if there ever has been one.
She recently took to social media to tell the sad story of how the actions of one irresponsible and inebriated man eight years ago changed the life of her daughter and the lives of their extended family.
Her children, Cary and Colleen, were former high school athletes. The popular and extremely athletic Colleen became the Harrison High School’s homecoming queen in 1983, and later followed in her mother’s footsteps to become a junior high teacher while marrying husband Mark, an FBI agent.
Things hummed along almost idyllically in the families’ lives until Sept. 24, 2007. A single violent moment radically changed two families’ lives forever.
Colleen, then 42, who taught English at Lake Hamilton Junior High, went jogging near her home at twilight. A drunken driver struck her as she ran beside the road, leaving a gash in his windshield where Colleen’s head struck. She was sent flying eight feet into roadside weeds. The driver sped away to be caught two days later.
Junette said her daughter lay unnoticed there for over an hour until some neighbors Mark had summoned to search for her finally discovered a critically injured Colleen.
Junette said Colleen was in such poor shape that doctors gave little hope for her survival. She said one physician even said, “If she were mine, I would let her go.” Determined to save their daughter, Junette and husband Johnny reminded the doctor that Colleen was not his.
In the ensuing months, Colleen suffering was continuous. She suffered a stroke, endured three brain surgeries, and an emergency abdominal surgery (after, Junette said, the staff accidentally removed her feeding tube). There were surgeries on both legs, leaving her with pins and rods in both. She had nerve damage in each eye “and more infections than we could count,” said Junette. “When it was time for Colleen to leave the hospital, no care facility would accept her because of her extensive problems.”
Colleen’s brother in Dallas finally was able to use networking get his sister admitted to Baylor Rehab there. That was followed over the next two years by stays in other rehabilitation centers in Texas and Arkansas. “We closed up our home in Harrison and moved into hers in Hot Springs so we could help care for her two sons and be near her,” Junette explained. When the time came for Colleen to leave the rehab centers, the Clayborns moved their daughter back home.
“When her sons graduated from high school, we moved Colleen to Harrison and remodeled our home to fit her needs,” said Junette. The Clayborns both were from Harrison and missed their hometown and home on Skyline Terrace. Mark retired from the FBI and became part of the security team for Weyerhaeuser. Colleen’s son Clay is now in the U.S Air Force Academy and Kyle is at the University of Arkansas.
“Sadly, due to her severe brain injuries, especially on the left side, she has a hard time keeping her boys straight, much less where they are,” Junette added.
Today, Colleen’s once-blonde hair has turned brown and is trimmed short to allow for a permanent shunt to drain fluid. She remains confined to a wheelchair where she has the use of one arm and requires full-time care from her parents. Mark also is continually attentive and helpful. Neighbors and friends are constantly dropping in to bring food and offer help.
“She can’t carry on a conversation but can still smile and sing a little,” said Junette. “When she’s frustrated or in pain, she yells. Her dad became trained in her therapy and he handles that now. We have the necessary equipment.” I touched Colleen’s hair before leaving their home, and wished her the best of blessings. She leaned back slightly in the wheelchair and whispered “yes.”
It’s sobering for each of us to realize how those who violate law and moral principles by risking the lives and welfare of others by consuming alcohol or drugs, then choosing to operate a vehicle, can instantly alter many lives. Yet so many still believe we can toss back a few drinks and that such tragedy can’t possibly happen to us.
Colleen’s mother took to the Internet to share a brief glimpse of what she and her beloved daughter (and the whole family) continue to endure, all because of one man’s stupidity and criminal negligence. Today, the drunken driver is serving out a 26-year sentence for the phenomenally bad choice he made on Sept. 24, 2007.
Drunk Driving Awareness Month, endorsed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the impetus behind Junette’s desire to share her story, ended three days ago. That formality, while a nice and somewhat valuable PR gesture during December, has to extend to all 12 months of every year if the tendency to drink and drug then drive continues across society. Bless the dedicated Clayborn family and the terrible results none of them asked for, or ever expected.