CYPRESS, Texas -- At Nicole Lilly Lalime’s vigil, there was one other girl in a neck brace. She was drawn to the vigil because she knew Lilly and had her own frightening drunk driving story to tell. 

Lalime’s vigil was on Wednesday night. But just one month earlier, Kim Maynard and her older sister were turning on Jones Road when their own tragedy occurred.

They said that a driver, who was allegedly drunk and driving without headlights, hit them broadside.

Kim was thrown out a back window. She skidded across the pavement on her face and landed unconscious in a roadside ditch.  The accident happened only a mile away from where Lilly lost her life in a hit-and-run accident.

"I couldn't go up to the ditch because I was so afraid she was dead," said Keele Maynard, Kim’s sister.

Kim wasn't dead, but she was very close. She had two fractured vertebrae.

"If I would have broken C4, the doctor told me I would have been paralyzed from the neck down," said Kim. "It scares me, and I'm just so thankful that I'm here right now."

According to statistics, 13,000 people die each year in the U.S in alcohol related crashes. In Texas, that number is 1,400.

"It hurts. It hurts knowing we were that close to losing Kim," said Sherri Maynard, Kim’s mother.

Kim’s mother lost her own father to a drunk driver in Houston two decades ago.

"When I actually saw everything, it really made me realize how lucky I am and how blessed I am that I still have my daughter today," said Sherrie.

"I just know that I'm really lucky to be alive right now and it's just devastating to know that Lilly died," said Kim.

"They should go to jail. They need to pay for what they did to Kimberly and what they did to Lilly. There's no excuse for that," said Keele.

Kim Maynard and her family are still waiting for the police report from her accident to reveal how intoxicated the alleged drunk driver might have been.

Lilly Lalime was not as lucky as Kim.  Her funeral will be on Sunday at the Cy-Fair Christian Church on Grant Road. It begins at 3 p.m.