Valetta Bradford is the mother of Xzavier.  Her life changed dramatically on October 10, 2010 after a distracted driver struck her son down in the confounds of the Lee Elementary School crosswalk. The woman was texting. Valetta sat through seven operations to find out if her son would live and when the surgeons finally spoke with Valetta, they had the burden of telling her her son would now be paralyzed from the diaphragm down and Xzavier now required a respirator – that must be monitored 24/7 by trained staff – in order for Xzavier to breathe. The emotional toll was a tidal wave. Valetta survived for the sake of her son and she trained to monitor a respirator and how to trache ventilate a patient in order to become Xzavier’s primary caregiver.  There will be no institutions in Xzavier’s life. Valetta also secured nursing staff for her home in order to give Xzavier round the clock surveillance. Valetta had to obtain a lawyer to fight for a portion of the insurance money because the seven operations cost millions of dollars and of course the medical providers were trying to recover as much as they could. In the end, Valetta only received $25,000. dollars to care for her son for the rest of his life in this condition.  After Valetta re-plumbed her home in order to bathe Xzavier properly, she installed a wheelchair lift to their home, and bought a second-hand wheelchair accessible van to get Xzavier around to his appointments and travels through life, then the insurance money was exhausted. Valetta had to quit her managerial position in corporate America in order to be with her son.  She says she never wants something like this to ever happen to another child. And that is why Valetta let the news cameras into her son’s hospital room during his recovery.  All she could really think about in the waiting room was about that text that was being typed by the driver who struck her son, “I’m on my way.” There are many stories between now and then, as well as many stories about Valetta’s life prior to this pivotal moment.  She has a documentary to commemorate the moment Xzavier was paralyzed titled ‘From Second to the Next’ by none other than Werner Herzog – the German critically acclaimed director who is legendary as well.  Mr. Herzog has been making cinema since 1962.  After directing Valetta in a powerful PSA in the ‘It Can Wait’ campaign sponsored by AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon, Werner stated that it was Valetta that inspired him to go on with the documentary as the next logical step. Xzavier, Valetta, and Aurie were invited to the premiere of ‘From One Second to the Next’ in Hollywood, California.  Xzavier’s super nurse accompanied the family on this trip.  It was a very exciting journey for Xzavier and Valetta said there wasn’t a dry eye in the house after the film. That was the end of Valetta’s involvement with the ‘It Can Wait’ people.  For some reason they no longer promote the documentary and its been years since they ran the PSA. post a roster link here This does not deter Valetta from her own advocacy campaign.  Valetta and Xzavier appear before young and future drivers at every opportunity they get.  Before the second hand wheelchair accessible van broke down completely last year, Xzavier attended every event where they were asked to tell his story.  They speak at high schools, colleges, driving schools, and local events. They even traveled to New York to be interviewed by Katie Couric. Xzavier has to sit a few appearances out because the van is broken and even though Valetta managed to get the wheelchair lift to her house replaced, now Xzavier’s wheelchair is broken. Valetta makes these appearances out of her own pocket.  Our efforts at fundraising have been underwhelming every time.  The X-Man Foundation is just Valetta Bradford and a handful of volunteers.  The X-Man Foundation is federally recognized as a non-profit under the educational section. The X-Man Foundations strives to educate drivers to the dangers of distracted driving with an emphasis on texting.   That is our mission statement. See, we feel that the Story of X is the most powerful tool we have at this time to make distracted drivers pause and think about their own habits.  Meeting Valetta and Xzavier is a profound moment for those drivers they appear before. A lot of drivers think they can handle it and that the warnings are for all the other drivers.  It is a common thing to see a driver on their phone or even texting while behind the wheel. And until this behavior changes, we at The X-Man Foundation will continue on in this campaign ‘Don’t text for X’.