Alyssa Jackson

“We would always go over to his house and go dirt bike riding and sometimes go out to dinner and lunch, actually the last time I saw him was at dinner. I was in Florida with my grandma, my mom, and a few of their friends. [My grandma] comes in bawling her eyes out and when I asked what was wrong, she told me I needed to go downstairs and talk to my mom. My mom grabs chairs and we head down to the beach. At this point my mom sits us down and tries her best to gently tell us that our cousin and uncle have been in an accident. What had happened was my uncle and cousin were dirt biking for my cousins birthday present, and they were driving down a hill and they both collided. My cousins fell over on his neck and I think my uncle fell on his side, but he ended up paralyzed. Someone called 911, I don’t know, maybe it was my grandpa who watched it happen. [My grandpa] was really traumatized by it because he saw his grandson die.  I was bawling on the beach, of course, because I didn’t say my goodbyes to him, nor did I get to see him one last time before he did died. He was there one day, we had a nice talk, good dinner and we were laughing, but he was gone like a blink of an eye.”