Letter from Jill Clark - March 21, 2009
Hi,
my name is Jill Clark. I wanted to first start off by saying how sorry I am for you and your family's loss. You are all
in our thoughts and prayers. I want to share my story with you. I want to let you know how inspirational you are sharing your
story and getting the facts out to all these young kids to help prevent alcohol abuse. By educating these kids with your story
you are saving so many lives. I want to share my story with you so maybe you could tell kids its ok to be scared and suffer
the consequences of your actions.
When I was sixteen years old all my friends "partied". I remember
so many times watching my friends drink to the point where they are throwing up. And you're right when you say that's
not ok and that throwing up is not normal. That's when you call for help. To the youth it is normal and even I thought
ok good they are getting it all out of their system. Back than all those times I just considered myself lucky that none of
my friends had a tragic outcome. Until one night my whole world would change.
Every single one of my friend's
and my parents had no clue to the extent how much we would sneak around and drink. And that is just one of the scary parts
of teens. So one weekend I told my mom I was staying the night at a girlfriends house. Her parents weren't home all weekend
so we decided to go over to a party. The cops were called and I got pulled out of the house with a very high alcohol level.
My parents were shocked! I was grounded for 2 weeks and that was enough for me right then and there to change my ways after
seeing the disappointment in my parent's faces.
So about 3 weeks later a girlfriend and I go with my mom to
go shopping for my m.o.r.p dress. That is prom backwards. I was so excited! We get the dress, shoes, etc. So we asked my mom
to drop us off at my girlfriend's boyfriend's house. We go there and sure enough everyone is drinking. The older sister
is supplying the alcohol. My friend had not eaten anything all day and went out back to hang out and to my surprise was drinking
beer. I thought ok it's just beer. That's nothing, at least its not hard alcohol. So it was time to leave and a sober
friend took us home. I of course was sober myself so I thought everything was fine until she asked to stay the night so she
wouldn't get in trouble. My mom said yes and said when I get home lock up. I had the guest house as a bedroom so I knew
I could sneak her in. But my parents always checked on me in the middle of the night so I wanted to hurry and jump in bed
so we would both look like we were asleep. We got dropped off at my house and she started stumbling. I had to carry her to
my room. She started telling me she did not feel well. I thought to myself "oh my gosh, she can't handle alcohol,
I've got to get her to bed"! I tried to keep her talking while we changed for bed. She said she was tired so I went
to go towards her and she blacked out and passed out on to the floor. Now keep in mind I was scared to death having a drunk
friend in my parents house after the trouble I got into a couple weeks before. So I was thinking ok she will sleep it off.
I just have to get her a bucket and into my bed. But something didn't feel right. I told god to just please help me be
strong and get through this. So I ran up to my parents room and told my mom my friend didn't feel good. My dad joked and
said, " whose been drinking"? My mom said yeah right and laughed. Then she took one look at me and knew. I explained
what happened and she ran down to my room with me to check my friend. Within the five minutes I was gone she was white as
a ghost, lips blue, and not breathing! We immediately called 911, and in the meantime got my dad and did C.P.R. and got a
hissing sound out of her. When paramedics arrived they had to pump her stomach immediately and shock her heart back to life.
They then rushed her to the hospital where again they had to shock her heart. They weren't sure if she would have brain
damage from the amount of time she wasn't breathing. I then got grilled by police on where we drank and got the alcohol.
I was scared to death and wouldn't talk at first but then came clean. They then told me if my friend didn't pull through
the people who supply alcohol would be charged with manslaughter.
My friend wound up being ok, but I sure did
suffer a lot of consequences. My parents cancelled my birthday party, took my room away, so I had to share a room with my
ten year old sister for the next year, did not get to go to morp, and got my license taken away for a year as well. And it
was all worth it!!!
I was so proud of myself I had the courage to do what was right. I got bullied for the rest
of my high school years for telling on the people who gave her the beer. But I did not care. I had my friend and a whole new
outlook and appreciation for life. I wanted to share my story with you because yours touched me as well as my family. I want
kids to know when and how to act in situations like these. If I would have just picked my friend up and put her in my bed
to what a lot of kids do thinking they would sleep it off, I would have woken up to my best friend dead. By what you are doing
amazes me! You are spreading awareness to so many kids who have no clue about their actions. For that I am thankful to you.
I am now twenty-six with a ten month old daughter. I find so much inspiration in what you are doing.
Thank you.
Jill Clark
