Jacqueline Saburido

Jacqueline "Jacqui" Saburido (b. December 20, 1978) is a victim and survivor of a drunk driving accident. She has publicized her own disfigurement to show the potential consequences of drunk driving.

Early life

The only child of Rosalia and Amadeo Saburido, she lived in Caracas, Venezuela for all of her childhood. Living with her father after her parents divorced, she began studying engineering in the hope of taking over the family air conditioning business. In 1999, Saburido was struggling in college and decided to take a break. She took a trip to Texas to study English.

The Accident

In September 1999, Saburido attended a birthday party near Austin, Texas. She and her friends decided to head home after a few hours. Saburido and her friends, Laura Guerrero, Johan Daal and Johanna Gil, accepted a ride home from a classmate, Natalia Chpytchak Bennett. Reginald Stephey, a 17-year-old high school student, was on his way home after drinking beer with his friends at a party. On the outskirts of Austin, Stephey's 1996 GMC Yukon veered into Bennett's 1990 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency. Bennett's car was carrying Saburido and the others.

Guerrero and Bennett were killed instantly. Gil and Daal were injured but not seriously. Saburido's feet were trapped under the seat and she could not get out. The car caught fire. Two paramedics, John McIntosh and Bryan Fitzpatrick, happened to be driving past when Stephey flagged them down. The flames were leaping several feet up into the air as they arrived. McIntosh put out the fire with his extinguisher and the two men set about removing everyone from the vehicle.

Saburido was trapped, and the fire returned. McIntosh and Fitzpatrick were forced back, and Saburido was left to burn for around 45 seconds as the flames engulfed the vehicle. A fire truck arrived and put out the fire, Saburido was cut from the car and airlifted to the burns unit in Galveston.

Saburido suffered burns, mainly third degree, to over 60 percent of her body. She survived, reportedly despite the expectations of her doctors. All of her fingers had to be amputated, but there was enough bone left on her thumb to construct an opposable thumb. She lost her hair, ears, nose, lips, left eyelid and much of her vision. She has undergone more than 50 operations since the crash, including cornea transplants, which have restored her left eye, and she has many more to go.

Aftermath

In June 2001, Reginald Stephey was convicted on two counts of intoxicated manslaughter. He was sentenced to two concurrent seven-year prison sentences and fined $20,000. An appeal was refused.

Saburido allowed graphic post-accident photographs of herself to be used in the media (posters, TV commercials, and internet chain mail) to illustrate a possible outcome of drunk driving. She is most well known for a commercial in which she holds a pre-accident photo of herself in front of the camera, which she lowers to reveal her disfigured face and says, "This is me, after being hit by a drunk driver."

Saburido appeared on "Oprah Winfrey Show" on November 17, 2003. She was also interviewed on the Australian "60 Minutes" on March 14, 2004 and was featured in a Discovery Health documentary on face transplants. She continues to educate people on drunk driving. Oprah Winfrey has called Saburido the one person she had met who defined "inner beauty".

Saburido's story was featured in the motivational presentation "Inside Out" by Motivational Productions.

Saburido is currently living in Kentucky, to enable better transportation to her doctors. Her mother Rosalia has passed away from cancer.

References

* [http://www.statesman.com/specialreports/content/specialreports/jacqui/ Chasing Hope: Jacqui and Amadeo]
* [http://www.helpjacqui.com/home.htm HelpJacqui - A Story of Courage]
* [http://www.news8austin.com/content/the_years_best/person/?SecID=260&ArID=56795 A Face to Remember]

ee also

*Intoxication manslaughter
*Face transplant
*Burn injury
*Disfigurement

External links

The following links include depictions of her injuries, which could be extremely graphic for some viewers.
*http://www.texasdwi.org/jacqui.html
*http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/adults/saburido.htm
*http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200311/tows_past_20031125.jhtml
*http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/oct/texas_dwi/
*http://www.tabc.state.tx.us/educa/Jacqui.htm
*http://www.lenet3000.com/saburido
*http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=259135
*http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/05/26/face.transplant/
*http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/20/nfacelift20.xml
*http://health.discovery.com/centers/plasticsurgery/facetransplant/intro.html