MC students hear sobering talk

Chris Skinner was only 750 feet from safety when his life changed forever.

“That’s like here,” – Skinner said from the stage in front of Madison County High School’s auditorium – “to the back of the room,” he explained to a group of Wetsel Middle School students May 14.

On June 10, 2000, Skinner was in the car with a friend who was driving him back from a wedding reception where the two had shared multiple beers. They were in sight of the friend’s house they were driving to when the car flipped two and half times.

Skinner was thrown through the window and landed in a ditch with a broken neck and mangled legs. He was still conscious, although he couldn’t move, when he heard his friend get up off the ground with a huge sigh of relief.

His friend survived the crash unscathed. Unfortunately, Skinner wasn’t so lucky.

But even as the 29-year-old – who now uses a wheelchair – spoke to the students about how much he misses walking, writing (he also lost use of his fingers) and not having to rely on other people for help with everyday tasks, he was quick to recognize that the accident could have been much worse. He could have never awoke from the coma he entered after the crash.

“I’m the lucky one, I lived,” said Skinner, who also told a story of a friend of his who died in an alcohol-related car accident that happened earlier in his life.
Prior to Skinner’s own accident, he had quit drinking following a bout of hard partying during his first few years of college that eventually led to his failure out of school. But the temptation to binge returned the night he attended a wedding reception with some college buddies.

Despite a friend’s insistence that he avoid the keg, Skinner decided to indulge.

“I thought, ‘I’m just gonna have one, which turned into two, three,” he told the teens. Even though Skinner handed his keys over to a thoughtful friend, ensuring he wouldn’t drive for the night, he later made the mistake of getting into a car with someone else, who was just as drunk as he was.

“I thought, ‘It’s not a big deal, it’s just around the corner,’” Skinner said of his decision to join his intoxicated friend in the car.

But in the end, even that short drive proved to be too far of a distance for the two to drive home safely.

“We are all becoming de-sensitized to alcohol and drugs, the dangers they bring into our lives,” Skinner said of his similar disregard of the danger he put his life in the night of the car crash.

Although it might be clear to everyone that they wouldn’t want to end up in a wheelchair, or lose the use of their fingers, “the question is, are you willing to make the sacrifice to get away from this kind of stuff,” he asked the audience.

Even though the speech included a tear-jerking account from Skinner, the talk wasn’t gloomy. Skinner worked to keep the mood lighthearted, cracking jokes and poking fun at himself in an effort to make the teens relax and garner some laughs.

The talk managed to grab the attention of often easily distracted teens. Afterwards many said that although the story was “sad” and some “felt bad” for Skinner, they enjoyed themselves.

“It was cool,” said WMS student Daniel Richards. “I liked it.”

“It really shows you what life’s worth,” student Nichole Mikulak added.

Madison County Sheriff’s Office Student Resource Officer Drew Eanes, who attended Radford University with Skinner, worked to bring the speaker to the school by requesting donations from various community members to offset the $2,300 fee, which paid for three speeches throughout the day in order to address the entire MCHS and WMS student bodies.

“Due to the help of organizations and citizens in Madison, that is the only reason we were able to come up with the funds to bring Chris to Madison,” Eanes said in an e-mail response.

Donating organizations and individuals included, Madison County Sheriff’s Office/DARE program, Madison County Public Schools, MCHS All Night After Prom committee, MCHS Parent Teacher Organization, Woman’s Club of Madison, Madison County Commonwealth’s Attorney office, Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance, State Farm Insurance, Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board and Area Agency on Aging, Brenda Aylor, Nell Berry, Patricia and Terry Cockrell, Edward and Kay Nichol and Vince and Paige Kelliher.

The MCSO deputy’s goal was to warn students of the realities of drinking and driving before some headed off to one of the high school’s biggest nights of the year – the prom. Prom – which was Saturday, May 16 for MCHS – is known to attract some students to drink alcohol, and possibly drive, something parents and teachers work to discourage every year, with things like the all-night, chaperoned After Prom party.

For information about Chris Skinner, visit his Web site at www.chrisskinner.org/about.html.