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Strong woman takes back her life

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By Ann Varner

Meet Destiny. People all over the U.S. and the world know her as the woman who lost her husband and 15 month old son to a drunk driver when she was only 21 years old. Her story was published all over news outlets, magazines, and trended on social media.

I’ve known her as my beautiful, amazing, and incredibly strong friend since our sophomore year of high school. On September 20, 2014, Destiny, her husband Corey and their 15 month old son, Parker, were driving to an appointment. They were struck head on by a drunk driver.

Parker died immediately and Corey fought for his life for the next 12 hours, but ultimately succumbed to his injuries on September 21st. Destiny went from being a mother and a wife to a widow and an angel mom in one day.

No one who knew Destiny would have blamed her for giving up. However, Destiny didn’t do that. I asked her what was going through her head the moment she decided that she wasn’t going to give up and that she was going to take charge of her life.

“I was driving around in the dark trying to find some sort of hope,” Destiny shared. “Tears went down my face and I thought every bad day and every bad moment is a moment and day that woman (drunk driver) is stealing from me. I refused to allow her to take anything else. From that moment on, I chose to accept my reality. Tears and anger weren’t bringing them back. It was time to carry on their legacy and try to live out the life they wanted.”

 Three years later Destiny is a businesswoman through ItWorks. She and her now husband make over six figures a year working from their phones. She does this so she doesn’t have to go into a job and take away cherished moments from her loved ones.

Destiny is also the biggest advocate I know against drunk driving. Every year for Parker and Corey’s birthdays she organizes drives for “random acts of kindness.” She told me it’s “her way of still celebrating with them and making them known to the world and spreading their love”. She uses social media and visits schools to speak against drunk driving.

Destiny is a woman who could have ended her life or drowned her sorrows. Instead her bravery and strength endured and she now travels the world, owns a home, owns her business, works from home, and has saved many lives by advocating against drunk driving, all by the age of 24. To me, she exemplifies strong womanhood.