"It's tough. You could lose a parent or a husband, but to lose a child, it's just something that you never get over the rest of your life," said Linda Beni.
Mother's Day is usually a time of celebration, but for mothers like Beni, it can be a painful reminder of loss. Beni lost her daughter, Brittany, to a drunk driver back in 2016.
"She was the life of the party. She walked into a room; she literally lit up the room. She was always fun. She was my little sidekick, you know? And she was my baby. She suffered from Type 1 diabetes for 14 years. We thought that would take her life, not a senseless, you know, way."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 32 people in the United States are killed every day in crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver. That is one death every 45 minutes.
"Drunk driving is 100% preventable. It's a choice when you get into a drunk driving crash. It's not an accident. It's a crash. It's a conscious decision that you make," said Trish Routte with Crime Stoppers.
The nonprofit Mother's Against Drunk Driving is working to get that number as low as possible. The group supports victims like Beni, raising awareness about the devastating effects of drunk driving.
Hundreds of participants got together Saturday morning for the annual Walk for MADD 5K. It's a chance for those impacted by drunk driving to unite, share stories and support one another as they fight to end this tragedy.
"MADD reached out to me right after Brittany died, and I was kind of fighting it. Then I finally gave in, and they were the most support I ever had," said Beni.
Beni will keep sharing her daughter's story to prevent other moms from feeling her pain this Mother's Day weekend.
"If you want to have a cocktail, call an Uber, have a friend drive. You just be responsible. Brittany had her whole life ahead of her. She was killed at 21, ready to go into nursing school, and her life was cut short way too soon," said Beni.
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