Good Morning, My Name is Kaitlyn Dyer and I Am Nick Dyers sister. February 13^th 2017 is a day that is always on my mind. That Morning I left to go to Toronto to write the biggest exam of my life on the 14^th; the Paralegal licensing exam, something I had been working towards for two and half years. Ironically the last time I spoke in this exact courtroom was during my paralegal placement On July 25^th2016. Little did I know the next time I would speak in this courtroom would be for the trial for of the accident that would cause my brother's death. After getting to our hotel in Toronto my mom received a phone call that I will never ever forget. It is one that knocked me off my feet. It was a nurse from Hotel Dieu Hospital calling my mom to tell her that Nick had been in a severe Car Accident. Several kilometres away I have never felt that amount of guilt in my whole entire life and I will never forget the complete agony my mom was in knowing that she wasn't there. KNOWING that we were eating lunch when my brother was lying in a corn field fighting for his life, alone. My Mom immediately got onto the next flight out of Toronto to Windsor to meet my dad, and I was left in Toronto to write my exam alone. I will truly never forget sitting on the bed of my Hotel room screaming at the top of lungs as to why something like this was happening to my family, as knowing that my mom leaving me meant that Nick was obviously not okay. The next Morning, I wrote my licensing exam, something I had worked so incredibly hard for, for months and in the back of mind not knowing if my brother was okay, Little did I know my brother was fighting for his life in surgery the moment I put my pen to paper in what I thought was the most important thing in my life.

After finishing my exam, a family member drove me to Windsor and that is when I found out that my brother was in ICU At Detroit Receiving Hospital. My life at the moment completely and utterly shattered. Walking into my brother hospital room and to see my brother laying there attached to several machine just to stay alive, fighting so incredibly hard for his life has me wondering what happened in that vehicle that could have caused him to get to ICU in Detroit. Every week he fought so incredibly hard and without the knowledge, compassion and courage from the Nurses and Doctors at Hotel Dieu hospital who decided to transfer my brother across the border to get the help he needed is what gave my mom, my dad and I one entire month with my brother, as without the staff at Detroit Receiving Hospital my brother would have died on February 13^th due to the extent of his injuries.

Nick passed away one month after the accident and that day I lost a piece of me, I lost my best friend, I lost my only sibling, and I lost the parents I had known for 20 years. NO Parent should ever have to bury their child and the toll it took on my parents that they think there was something they could have done to prevent this from happening breaks my heart every single day. To put it on a larger platform of understanding for people who do not understand what losing a sibling is. I will NEVER get to watch my brother graduate from high school, I WILL NEVER get to watch my brother go to prom. Nick will never know the man I marry, Nick will never stand in my wedding, Nick will never get to marry the girl of his dreams have kids, own a house and have a successful life like I know he would have had this awful tragedy not happened to my family. My parents will never get to see Nick graduate, got to prom, get married, and have kids. My Children will never know their "Uncle Nick" and I will never be an aunt. My parents will never have grandchildren from my brother. These things are so minor in comparison to having my brother back, but this is what my family deals with every day; the what ifs and the I wonder because my brother is no longer here, as a result of an accident that could have been prevented. I understand that it's hard to imagine such a loss when you have not experienced it. Some days I go to text my brother, go to his room to show him a song to be painfully reminded he's not here anymore, that feeling alone breaks my heart and does every time.

As a result of this accident it has affected me behaviourally. I have a difficult time getting into a vehicle where I am not the driver, as I don't trust anyone to drive anymore and when I am a passenger, the thought of sitting on the right side of the car, even though I have sat on that side my whole life, makes me silently panic in the back seat worried if something was to happen what would I do. Every time I go out or get sick I fear that something horrible will happen to me and the constant thought in my mind "if I die my parents, will lose not one of us but two of us" that is a harsh reality for anyone to have to deal with at only 21. I have an incredibly hard time getting close to anyone anymore as I'm scared that something will happen and I will be heartbroken, crushed and depressed all over again. This accident has changed not only my life, my parent's life it changed his best friends lives. They have been so deeply affected by this tragedy and it breaks my heart every day. The Ripple effect of this accident does not just affect the families involved but the friends of our families. This accident has caused so much agonizing pain.

The last 12 months have been the most excruciating, confusing, heart wrenching time of my entire life. On February 13^th I lost a piece of what a normal life should be, and my life has never been the same. For most people is this courtroom in a week, a month, a year from now my brother's death will be less current, less of a thought on their mind, and many might forget. but this is my families EVERYDAY. This pain will be forever and will never go away.