Teenage students from around Brown County attended a powerful presentation Friday morning about the costs of making bad choices.
Speaker Kevin Brooks told his real life story of how he made the choice to drive at excessive speeds while intoxicated one night in 2000 after a party near his home in British Columbia. That choice cost the life of Brooks’ friend Brendon and his own ability to walk.
“Life truly is a gift and it only takes that one choice to throw it all away,” Brooks said.
Brooks said that after the crash and through recovery, he had to learn how to breath, eat, rollover, and other simple tasks that most people don’t even think about. He also dealt with the grief of losing his friend and the impact his choice had on his family.
Since his recovery, he has used his situation and paralysis as a new beginning with the hope that others will not make similar poor choices after hearing his story.
“It’s not about what happened, but more about what happens next,” he said.
Brooks also talked about two of his other friends who have died in more recent years – one killed in a possible drug related shooting and another to suicide. Brooks pointed out that these deaths, including the one of his friend in his car accident, were all preventable and he wants to use their story to help others.
“I hope you are not only hearing our story, but you are feeling it, that you remember it, that you will keep it with you,” Brooks said. “So our story, or one like it, will not become yours.”
Brooks kept three empty chairs on stage with him, as he does at all of his speaking events, to remind him and others of his three friends who are gone.
He ended the event with a moving video showing himself before his accident enjoying his favorite activities of skateboarding and snowboarding as well as time with his family. He also showed stunning photos of his car before and after the accident.
Brooks, who is from Canada, has told his story to nearly half a million people in well over 1000 high schools and community sponsored events. He has been the keynote speaker at numerous Provincial, State and National conferences. Visit his website at
