A letter to Janessa

Dear Janessa,

I met you for a very brief time to do your senior photos and during that moment you have changed my life. I know that you are at the lowest point in your life right now but I just want you to know how truly beautiful you are inside and out.

Your smile lights up the world when you show it. People who are negative just do not understand, your dark exotic beauty with curves in all the right places is much more enticing than the cookie cutter. Trust me I know, I have photographed hundreds and your beauty stands out by far. and calling you fat and ugly is something I just cant even fathom. Don't let someone get into your head with all the negativity. especially right now when you need all the positivity around you as possible to heal the physical and emotional wounds.

When I say you have changed my life, I am not lying. I have not gotten into my car once since I read what happened to you and not thought about you, and every time I now put on my seat belt, and every time I think about picking up my cell to text, I think about you and put it down. I have read what you said about wishing you had died in that car with Haylie, but let me tell you that I am so glad that you didn't. I wish she didn't have to either, but Your voice is being heard loud and clear by so many.

Her life being gone will not be in vain, of that I am sure, because you will be able to speak so clearly and save so many more in her name. You carry on and carry her with you and always will. You are strong and I believe in you. I am praying for you and your family and Haylie's family too.

-Connie

For those of you reading this and have not heard what happened to Janessa and her best friend Haylie you can read it here. Please read it and pray for her and their families during this extremely difficult time!

From Facebook:

On March 23, 2012 Haylie, 16, and Janessa, 18, had been in a serious car accident. Janessa had been wearing her seatbelt and was in the passenger seat while Haylie had been unbuckled and in the drivers seat. The girls were on there way to Hinckley when the accident had taken place. Haylie had been texting while driving and missed a sharp curve on 61 going towards hinckley and the car had rolled 4 or 5 times and landed upside down in a steep ditch. Janessas head had cracked the windshield and she had been unconscious for quite some time and woke up to find herself hanging from her seatbelt, so tight it was cutting off all the circulation from her. Janessa did what many of us probably would be too panicked to do and she felt around her in the dark and found a piece of metal debris from her friends vehicle and used the sharp object to cut her seatbelt and then used it to dig a hole big enough for her to slide out from the car window and into the ditch. There, she had found her bestfriend Haylie who had been ejected from the vehicle. They had lost their phones in the car accident but Janessa had seen that a text message had lit her phone, 5 ft away from what was left of the vehicle. Janessa could not feel her legs or back but managed to crawl to where her phone was and called 911. When the medics arrived they had brought Janessa to Sandstone hospital and then from there they decided she needed to be airlifted to North Memorial hospital in Minneapolis. Janessa is in the trauma center at North Memorial still trying to recover and walk again day by day. Please pray for her, she is going to need as many prayers as the beautiful, young girl can get. Thank you so much. RIP Haylie Samuelson, you will forever be in our hearts. Stay strong and keep fighting Janessa Vargas, you're the strongest and bravest of em all. ♥