TX - Chilli Vasquez is 9 years old and was paralysed.

She is paralyzed from the breast plate down, the result of a head-on car wreck in July 2011. It happened three days before her birthday, on an outing to get her hair and nails done. She doesn’t remember much, just waking up in the ICU with nurses around her.

The 19-year-old driving the other car had a blood alcohol content of .23, nearly three times the legal limit. Jeremy Solis pled guilty last week to two counts of intoxication assault. As is common at sentencing hearings, the victims were given a chance to speak to the court about how the crime has affected them. Chilli jumped at the chance.

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“Hi Jeremy,” she started. “My name is Xitclalli Vasquez, but they call me Chilli, and I am a fourth-grader, so I was diagnosed as a paraplegic.”

She detailed her hospital stay, the feeding tubes, x-rays. She told about the visitors and the pastor who would pray for her. School was her favorite time of the day. Therapy was the worst. “There are days that I cry because I can’t do what I used to do,” the 9-year-old said.

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