A month after a tragic car wreck claimed the lives of her three children, West Jordan resident Maria Avelar-Mojarro says her physical wounds and her heart are slowly beginning to heal.
Maria lost her three children — Alejandra, 7, Titi, 3, and Marco, 9 months — May 13 when a man driving down the wrong side of I-80 near Reno struck the van carrying Maria, her children, husband Fernando Meza-Arriaga, sister-in-law Gloria Meza-Arriaga and two nieces, Gloria Destiny Vasquez, 4, and Liliana, 2.
Maria Avelar-Mojarro, Fernando Meza-Arriaga and Liliana were the only members of the family who survived the crash.
A month later, they are trying to rebuild their lives.
"It's hard, but I know that my kids couldn't be in a better place. They're with God," Maria Avelar-Mojarro said.
Maria Avelar-Mojarro was released from Washoe Medical Center a week ago but is still in a wheelchair because of a broken right leg and right arm. Several of her ribs were also broken in the accident but are healing.
Liliana has been transferred to a hospital in San Jose where she is recovering from a head injury. Maria Avelar-Mojarro said her niece is now able to recognize people and hold up her own head.
"I think I'm doing much better," Maria Avelar-Mojarro said. "For now I'm just living day by day and I'm planning on just getting better."
She credits her ability to get through each day to her faith and her family. She and her husband have been living with family in San Jose, Calif., since she was released from the hospital.
The couple is uncertain whether they will return to live in Utah because the memories of the children in their West Jordan home may be too painful.
"It will be hard to drive by my daughter's school and see all her little friends and not see her there," Maria Avelar-Mojarro said.
Maria Avelar-Mojarro first found out that her children had all died in the car crash when she regained consciousness in the hospital eight days after the crash.
Having trouble expressing her emotions about when she found out that her children had not survived, Maria Avelar-Mojarro simply said that although it was a hard truth to accept, she suspected her children had died before her husband told her.
"It's hard. It's really, really hard. But whatever is done is done. There's no going back," she said.
The memory of the night of the accident still haunts the minds of emergency crews who responded to the call from as far as 60 miles away.
Nevada Highway Patrol trooper Pat McGill arrived at the scene of the accident and said he can still recall how there were car parts, bodies and beer cans strewn across the freeway.
"It's been quite an ordeal. Not a day goes by that I don't think about it," McGill said.
McGill has worked for the highway patrol for 21 years and said it was by far the worst accident he has ever seen.
The man who hit the Meza-Arriaga family was indicted Wednesday on seven counts of DUI. Stephen Scharosch, a retired California firefighter, is now being held on a $700,000 bail and could face up to 140 years in prison.
"I hope he gets a lot of years so he won't do it again for a long time," Maria Avelar-Mojarro said. "I'm really angry because that was so irresponsible because they go out and they drink and they drive and they can kill so many people in a matter of seconds."
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