A US father has made an emotional video plea from his daughter's hospital bedside where she lies uncommunicative and hooked up to tubes after being struck by a drink driver.
The man, who introduces himself as John, says he wants to highlight the lesser known victims of drink driving, those who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"A lot of people think that drinking and driving will never affect them … and they're absolutely right, it always happens to somebody else," he said.
"I want you to meet my daughter Kelly. She's 20 years old. She was hit by a drunk driver May 23, 2012. She'll never be the same, her life is over."
He then turns the camera towards his daughter who is lying flat on a bed and appears to have a breathing tube attached to her neck, her eyes gazing into space.
"The guy who did this to my daughter can only get a maximum of 10 years, my daughter got a life sentence," John says.
"[Drink driving] affects other people and their lives more than yours."
The man adds that his daughter's medical bills have exceeded $6 million and are "still climbing".
"We have no way to pay for them," he says.
The footage was posted on the video sharing website LiveLeak by a user from the US who said John had given him special permission to share his story.
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