A woman whose face became synonymous with numerous campaigns against drunken driving after she was severely burned in a Texas crash 20 years ago has died at the age of 40.
Jacqueline Saburido Garcia died of cancer in Guatemala, having moved there from her native Caracas, Venezuela, several years ago to seek better medical treatment, her family told the Austin American-Statesman.
Her cousin José Saburido told the newspaper that she also had been undergoing facial reconstruction surgery in Miami, receiving skin grafts to form new eyelids, lips and a nose.
But more recently, she had been devoting her energy to fighting cancer.
Saburido Garcia was involved in a car crash near Austin with 18-year-old drunk driver Reggie Stephey in 1999 that claimed the lives of two of her close friends.
Stephey was less than a mile from his driveway when he drifted across the road and struck the car Saburido Garcia was in head-on, killing Natalia Chyptchak Bennett, who was at the wheel, and Laura Guerrero in the back seat.
Two other passengers were pulled alive from the burning wreck, but Saburido Garcia remained inside the conflagration for nearly a minute before first responders managed to put out the flames.
Saburido Garcia, who moved to Texas to study English, suffered devastating third-degree burns over 60 percent of her body when the car caught fire, leaving her face unrecognizable.
Stephey was convicted in 2001 on two counts of intoxication manslaughter and sentenced to seven years in prison, where he collaborated with Saburido Garcia on an anti-DWI campaign after she told him she forgave him. He was released in 2008.
She also appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” first in 1999 to tell her story and again on the 10th anniversary of the accident while the talk show host recounted her most memorable guests of the past 25 years.
Saburido Garcia’s dad, Amadeo, became her caregiver, driving his only child to endless doctor’s appointments and helping her recover from her injuries, which required more than 120 surgeries.
“Even if it means sitting here in front of a camera with no ears, no nose, no eyebrows, no hair, I’ll do this a thousand times if it will help someone make a wise decision,” Saburido Garcia said during one of her many press appearances.