Honoring Our Heroes... Courtney Ann Koehler

Story told by her mother, Stacey Jewart

Courtney was 13 years old when she was hit by a drunk driver. When Unyts wanted to meet with us very soon after Courtney was pronounced brain dead, I had no idea what to do. I was too beyond myself to be able to begin to think straight. I asked her uncle what we should do and he said "you know Courtney would tell you to donate. She was all about helping others."

Courtney was the second oldest of 5 children. She was an honor student, a girl scout, a gymnast and just a true angel to all the lives she touched. Courtney was always the sweetest, most giving, loving, passionate, and patient person anybody could ever meet.

We lecture in the community as often as possible to make people aware of the true effects of drunk driving. We talk with Courtney and keep our memories of her alive at every opportunity possible. Not a single birthday or Angel restart goes by that we don't celebrate and grieve her in some way or another. Our family just celebrated what would be 24th birthday. We still stick together as our grief continues to show our never-ending love to her.

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Has this post inspired you to share your hero's story? Submit your story to featured as ConnectLife's next donor highlighted as Hero of the Month at https://www.connectlife.org/honor-your-hero