‘Up and leaving him was never on my radar’
(3 of 3) “I’m a person who never put his seat belt on. Even from a young age. I don’t know why. I just never have. I just wish I did that day I had the accident. I would still be fine.
“But I’m OK. I thank God each and every day for the second chance I’ve been given. I’ve had people tell me, ‘God did it to slow you down. You were going too fast in life.’ But I say, ‘God didn’t do that. He saved me from that death. He brought me back.’
“I might be just half a body, but I’m still here. My wife and my kids are still with me. It’s a blessing to be able to say this.”
“When Pedro was in the hospital, nurses told me that many people they see in this type of situation don’t make it. A lot of marriages don’t survive this. My older brother even said, ‘I will buy you and your kids a plane ticket back to Georgia. You can leave him, then come back to visit when he’s doing better.’
“Many people told us we weren’t going to make it, relationship-wise. But I was like, this is my husband. We’ve been through a whole lot already. Up and leaving him, taking our kids away, none of that was ever on my radar.
“If it weren’t for us as a family unit, Pedro wouldn’t be happy and OK today. That goes the same for me. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be sober and successful. It’s the yin and the yang of the whole thing.
“We have really good kids, too. They help with his care and stuff like that. They have a different kind of life than normal 15- and 16-year-olds. But they see a mom and a dad who love each other unconditionally and care for each other no matter what.
“I’m incredibly thankful that I am this person for my husband. And that he wasn’t with someone else who might have left him. I thank God that it’s me. And I thank God that he’s him for me. We count ourselves blessed every day.”
— Kimberly and Pedro Infante
When they met in 2001, Kimberly was Pedro’s waitress at a bar in Georgia. They will celebrate 15 years of marriage on Dec. 22.
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