'It brings so much grief': Family of Marshfield crash victim shares memories — and a message

The devastated family of a young woman killed in a collision last weekend is speaking out in hopes of sending a message about the dangers of impaired driving.

Laura Vanderweerd, 18, was one of four people who died when a pickup truck collided with her car in Marshfield, P.E.I. 

Police say they will be charging the driver of the truck with impaired driving causing death.

On Dec. 8, Vanderweerd was driving from her family's home in Morell to a church youth group in Charlottetown with three friends — all of them brothers.

Police say a pickup truck going in the other direction pulled into their lane and hit them head-on.

Vanderweerd and two of the brothers — 12-year-old Elijah Stewart, and 17-year-old Isaiah Chaisson Makuza — all died at the scene. The passenger in the truck, 30-year-old Daniel Bambrick, died in hospital.

'Such a joyful person'

"She was always thinking of people and how she could bring them joy. She loved to bake, and she would often make treats and give them to people," said Laura Vanderweerd's oldest sister, Jolinda Martens.

"She was such a joyful person, and she always sharing that with everybody around her…. It's hard to wake up in the morning, and you realize she's not there anymore." 

Laura Vanderweerd's family said it's hard to put into words the pain they're feeling, and the magnitude of loss for so many.

"It brings so much grief, especially to a mother's heart," said Trish Vanderweerd, Laura's mother. "It is very hard at times. It is like a pebble in the pond, and the ripples flow." 

'There's a huge hole'

"She's the light. She's such a bright, loving person, so there's a huge hole," Jolinda Martens said.

"It's been a devastating thing for our family, and the family of the boys, and the family of the other man in the truck, and our condolences to his family. It's so hard what we're all going through." 

The RCMP say they plan to charge the truck's driver, a 20-year-old man from York, with impaired driving causing death, and dangerous driving causing death.

Police are still investigating, and there's no known timeline for filing charges.

But Laura's family says — and police agree — that regardless of whether impaired driving was the actual cause of this accident, impaired driving is a big problem on P.E.I.

They hope sharing their grief now will make Islanders think twice.  

'We make a choice'

"We really want to get the message out there that every single one of us makes a choice," said Jolinda Martens.

"We make a choice if we see our friend thinking about getting in the vehicle and driving drunk. We make a choice if we do it ourselves. We make a choice if we model it to our children that it's OK to drive drunk. And we all need to change the choices we make."

We can never take that chance of getting away with it. Because just like in a snap of a moment, we don't get away with it, and we bear the consequences for life.— Trish Vanderweerd

Laura's mother, Trish Vanderweerd, hopes Islanders, especially youth, realize that their actions may not only affect themselves, but the lives of many others. 

"I know a lot of people can probably admit, 'I've done that, but I got away with it,'" she said.

"But you know, we can never take that chance of getting away with it. Because just like in a snap of a moment, we don't get away with it, and we bear the consequences for life and we've impacted so many people by our bad decision."

'A message of forgiveness'

The family said they've been overwhelmed by the support from the community this past week.  

It's that support, their faith and their forgiveness helping them get through this, they said.

"We want to extend a message of forgiveness," said Trish Vanderweerd. "My heart goes out to this young man. I want him to know I've forgiven him, as difficult as it sometimes is."  

"We don't want him to have his life ruined by this," Jolinda Martens added. "All of our lives are changed by this event."