On Sept. 11, 1988, Eric Nardone, a carpenter and recent high school graduate, was celebrating with friends and looking forward to training with the U.S. Marine Corps. That night, Nardone got into a car, unseatbelted, with a friend who was drunk. It was a decision that changed his life forever.

They plowed through Waltham at high speeds, racing a Ford Bronco driven by another friend. As they passed through an intersection, a large truck, barreling down hill, ran a stop sign and slammed into Nardone. He was the only one not drinking that night, and the only one seriously injured – so damaged by the accident that his priest read Nardone Last Rites bedside at the hospital.

"I don't talk to any of my old friends anymore because they've all moved on with their lives," Nardone told a group of Braintree High sophomores on Thursday afternoon. "You're lucky you're at the age you're at. Stay that way for a while."

"Eric's Story," a program Nardone has presented with his sister Karen to an estimated 200,000 Massachusett students over the years, was brought to BHS in the hopes of helping teenagers make smart decisions when they drive or go out riding with friends. As Karen put it – by breaking down a car crash in graphic detail – you can die or be powerfully hurt in just 0.7 seconds.

"Take a stand against impaired and distracted driving," said Karen, a 29-year veteran of law enforcement, social work and health education.

Nardone's life has changed drastically since the night of the crash. Following weeks in a coma, his family not knowing if he'd survive, Nardone went to Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital for six months to learn to walk, think and talk again. He's undergone dozens of additional surgeries in the past two decades and has significant memory and motor skills problems.

"Even 23 years later, he's still trying to get better from that horrible crash that could have been avoided," Karen said. "Things we take for granted all the time will impact him for the rest of his life."

If Nardone had been wearing a seatbelt, Karen said, he would have been far less injured. And, of course, if his friend had not been drinking, there likely would have been no crash at all. Nardone's friend eventually served six months for the accident, Karen said, and was later convicted in another drunk driving crash that killed someone.

Car crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers and young adults, and younger drivers are four times more likely to die in a crash than older drivers. Approximately eight teenagers die per day in accidents. Karen used these stats, and the argument that teens are less skilled and less mature drivers, to bolster Eric's story and encourage the Braintree students to think twice before getting in a car.

"All of them probably thought it was never going to happen to them," Karen said, referring to teens who die in crashes.

The force of the accident that September night ejected Nardone from the car, causing massive damage to his brain, collar bones, face, legs and other parts. "All of the organs of his body were injured by the impact of the crash," Karen said.

Nardone and his family will never know why he did not get behind the wheel that night as the only sober friend. His memories leading up to the crash are mostly gone, and he needed reminding at certain points on Thursday from his sister about what topic to speak about next.

"My memory is seriously messed up from the head injury," Nardone said.

Two summers ago, after experiencing pain in his arm, Nardone had a synthetic artery replaced in a surgery that stretched to 14 hours. Doctors barely saved his arm. It was perhaps the 30th or 40th surgey he has had since 1988, Nardone said. "And I'm going to have a lot more."