The Center For Music Therapy

HRIS STEPAN - BEFORE THE ACCIDENT At the age of 17, Chris Stepan was a popular, good-looking athlete who loved playing high school football and spending time with his friends. Chris was the jovial type of young man who exhibited a tough physique but really had a very genuine caring and loving heart for others. Chris and his brother Darren and parents had an especially close relationship with each other so the impact of the car accident greatly affected the entire family unit. The night of Saturday, April 13, 1996, would never be forgotten by any of them.

APRIL 13, 1996 - THE ACCIDENT I am Chris's Mother and I want to help others to learn from our experience and to hopefully give some hope to those who are in despair. The phone call that we received about the car accident was the Real Nightmare that every parent thinks about on a Saturday night when they are waiting up for their child to get home. There had been three of Chris' classmates who had died in car accidents in the months preceding his accident. It seemed as though the students at the high school were jinxed in some way. So when we received the phone call I immediately thought , "Oh no, its happened to us." "It can't be real." For so long I thought it was really just a bad dream and that I would be waking up and everything would be just as before. The steps of grieving have been very arduous for each of us to go through and we are all at different steps in the process of acceptance of this life changing experience. I sincerely believe that God uses the lemons in our life to make lemonade for each of us, if we will just open our eyes and see the graciousness of our Lord even in the midst of adversity!