It has been three years, ten months, and eleven days, since my heart has been broken.  I recall the day my son Dominic entered my life.  Every woman’s dream...a son to hold, nurture and protect.  Little did I know the protection part would be totally out of my control.

My thoughts are often of my family on that fateful day.   My mother in law, Ann, is driving, and my two children are in the rear.

Can you picture them?

She is unaware of the careless driver following from behind.  He is still absorbed with alcohol from his sleepless night.  His drunken eyes struggle to see the road in front, as he tries to make his turn to the left.  Try as he might, he can’t do it.  Maintaining control of the car isn’t with in him.

The front tires are split while pieces of cement are thrown, as the car first impacts the median.  He is now air born, and sent into the side of my Mom along with her precious cargo.  The driver is without a license or so much as a driving class for that matter.  In addition to being three times over the legal limit for the consumption of alcohol.  

I now picture my son's blood, and broken bones, and his beautiful face left perfectly intact.  At least I was given that. He is still strapped in his car seat. His spider man shoes he loved so much are still on his feet, and still clutching a store bag and toys. I want desperately to take his hand and tell him how much I love him, as his still, little body sits there. 

Do you see him?
Perhaps there is hope. Maybe God took him, before the back of his head was laid open, with the weapon of the vehicles deadly side view mirror.

From this awful day forward, I am forever tortured with the thoughts of Dominic’s lifeless body as he lies on the cold steel table at the morgue. The white towel soaked in his blood, covering the deadly wounds around the back of his sweet head.  With this, it is apparent why it was just our daughter, the policeman walked to our door that day. There will be no more Birthdays for my son…he is forever frozen in time.

As for my Mother in law, the crash was so violent, that her seat belt has cut into her delicate body.  It will take three weeks and 5 surgeries, but to no avail. We are soon forced to turn off life support and watch in agony, as her misery finally comes to an end.

There is not a day that goes by that I don’t picture the violence of this crash.  In fact, I suppose I torture myself, playing it over and over, again and again in my mind.  I often wonder why I do this to myself.  Do I think it will suddenly turn out differently?  Is it because I was not there to bear witness?  I must not have thought the worst could possibly happen to me, to us, and to our family; because, no one ever does.

It is easy, if you try, to see them as they were, what became of them, and how it has affected my family’s life.  A father living each painful day without his only son… a sister playing without her brother… and I look on at this family, in the face of tragedy.  We are a family that has been, and forever will be changed.

I would like for you to know, it is for my beautiful son that I am no longer afraid of dying, as often many people are.  As a matter of fact, I long for that day to come in order to see his beautiful face once more.  For there is not one day that goes by, that I don’t fight the tears and the deafening agony of my heart, overflowing into my head.

I try extremely hard not to let it consume me, as it is a constant struggle for me to feel any happiness at all. What’s worse is that this is how I am to live the rest of my life....without him...a life without my son.

Dominic Malegni died on a busy Atlanta road, at 2 O’clock in the afternoon on Sunday, November 7^th, 2004. He was hit by a young man of just 18, Alejandro Moreno, an illegal immigrant from Mexico.  He is now serving out his 20 year sentence in a federal penitentiary.

Not only is Alejandro in jail because of poor judgment and failed guidance by his parents.  My son and mother in law died a tragic, painful, and horrible death that certainly could have been prevented.  I now ask you to be an ambassador for this innocent child and for others who have died a similar fate.  I am putting the memory of my son, Dominic Malegni, in your hand.  It is my hope, that with you, his name will continue to live on and perhaps save many lives.

Sincerely,

Stacey Malegni