Grieving mother against drunk driving makes holiday plea

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – MADD Canada launched its Red Ribbon holiday campaign this week, and with it a heartfelt plea from a mother who has lived through a parent’s worst nightmare.

Standing brave, with her family by her side, Markita Kaulius recounted a horrible night.

Of all the messages you hear about not drinking and driving this season, she really hopes you’ll take this one to heart.

“On May 3, 2011 our family’s life was changed forever,” she began. “Our beautiful 22-year-old daughter Kassandra was killed by an alleged drunk driver, and our world fell apart.”

Kassandra was a promising athlete and student, working two jobs to put herself through school, and coaching and playing baseball in her spare time.

“She was driving home from a ball game that night, and someone chose to drive down the curb lane at 100 km/h, get  airborne over a railway track and slam into my daughter. Killed her instantly.”

Kaulius says now the family is going through the agony of waiting for charges and a trial so they can eventually get some closure.

“Families are not supposed to identify their loved ones on a hospital gurney,” she said, “or to have to make the decision to bury or cremate your child. My Mother’s Day was spent picking out out the clothes that my daughter was to be cremated in.”

So Kaulius makes this plea: to think twice. She doesn’t want other families to go through what hers still is.

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