Drunk driving victim still recovering 15 years after fatal crash on Selmon Expressway: ‘She’s come a long way’
TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla. - A teenager who was severely injured in a drunk driving crash 15 years ago that killed her mother took to the stage Thursday evening to share her story of recovery during a Mothers Against Drunk Driving candlelight vigil.
Summer Moll, who now goes by Summer Rosian, was just 4-years-old when she and her mother, Jennifer O'Boyle, were struck by a drunk driver going the wrong way on the Selmon Expressway in September 2008.
O'Boyle was killed, but Summer Rosian survived.
Pictured: Jennifer O'Boyle, who was killed in a 2008 drunk-driving crash.
On Thursday night, she and her grandmother, Tammy Rosian, opened up about the impact the crash has had on their lives at the 39th Annual MADD Candlelight Vigil. Tammy Rosian remembers rushing to the hospital after the crash.
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"They wouldn’t let me go in the room at the hospital because she was so bad," Tammy Rosian explained. "They brought us into a little chapel, and they said they didn't think she was going to make it through the night, and they didn't want me to remember her like that, so we did a whole lot of praying," Tammy Rosian said.
Summer Rosian was critically injured in the 2008 drunk driving crash that killed her mother.
Summer Rosain suffered fractures in her arms, legs, pelvis, eye socket and skull as well as a traumatic brain injury.
FOX 13 followed her through the years as Tammy Rosian adopted her shortly after the crash and has been raising her for the last 15 years.
Summer Rosian suffered a traumatic brain injury in the crash.
Summer Rosian still has cognitive struggles, and at 19, she reads at a third grade level. She’s currently enrolled in a program at the University of South Florida to teach her skills to live on her own.
"She has come a long way. She doesn’t give up, but if she puts her mind to it, she will succeed," Tammy Rosian said.
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On Thursday night, Summer Rosian opened up about her story at the 39th Annual Mother’s Against Drunk Driving Candlelight vigil at Mission Hill Church in Temple Terrace.
The Rosians shared their story during a MADD candlelight vigil on Thursday.
"Still to this day, I have long-term and short-term memory loss," she shared.
Both Summer and Tammy Rosian lit a special candle on stage to symbolize O’Boyle.
Summer and Tammy Rosian light a candle in honor of O'Boyle who was killed in the drunk-driving crash.
Several dozen law enforcement officers and families of drunk driving crash victims held a special candlelight vigil outside to remember the thousands of people killed by drunk drivers.
"I look at her and think ‘why would anybody else even take a chance of killing somebody?’ It's not worth it. It's not worth it when you have so many options out there," Tammy Rosian said.