We've seen numerous deaths as a result of underage drinking but one local family lives with the effects that drunk driving had.

11 News Reporter Aaron Luna shares the story of one man who was seriously injured in an almost deadly DUI crash.

Ben Garner walks the street where it all happened.

"The last thing I remember is getting on my bike and leaving school,” he says.

In the early morning hours of October 4, Ben Garner was riding his bike home when just blocks from his house he was hit by a drunk driver.

His father, Pat Garner remembers, "We had to go to the hospital to basically see our son laying in a gurney with tubes running out of him."

The accident cracked the thickest part of Ben's skull.

He suffered nerve damage in his face and the asphalt took pieces of skin right off his body.

His parents could only watch in agony.

"It’s tough, I can't describe the feeling other than someone kicked me in the gut and kept kicking,” Pat says.

Patty Garner, his mom, says, "He's a good kid, he's smart, he's very talented, very athletic and we almost didn't have that anymore."

What the garners didn't know at the time was that Ben had snuck out of the house and had been drinking.

Ben has no memory of that night but knows where he probably was.

"Nine times out of 10 I'd probably be at a party,” he says.

Its hard to say what would have happened if Ben wasn't drinking, but he knows this, “The one thing I could have done is follow the rules, stay home don't go out don't be stupid."

Ben used to play baseball.

"That was my sport, I love it,” he says.

Now with a traumatic brain injury Ben is suffering the consequences.

“I lost baseball. I put my self way back in school,” he says.

His mother is sending a message.

"You can look at that and know that somebody provided him alcohol and that somebody that had alcohol hit him and almost took him away from us,” she says.

Ben is catching up on all his missed school work and looks forward to graduating this year but knows he came close.

"Very lucky, extremely,” he says.

Very close to almost losing it all.

For 11 cares, Aaron Luna.