Author discusses life-altering event

Kathryn Gariano / staff photographer Bobby Petrocelli speaks on his personal experiences and how 10 seconds can change one person's life.

A well-known author, educator and international speaker revealed his life-changing experience to students Monday night in the College Center Ballroom A. 

Bobby Petrocelli woke up one night in October 1985 and saw a truck in what was once his bedroom.

"Ten seconds, one moment; one decision changed my life forever and ripped Eva out of my world," Petrocelli said.

Petrocelli told students that the pickup truck that crashed through his bedroom and killed his wife, Eva, was driven by a man who had a blood alcohol content twice the legal limit.

"Anytime anything in this world is abused, the eventual outcome is a major consequence," Petrocelli said.

That night, Petrocelli got in bed next to his wife, kissed her on the cheek and she kissed him back.

"After noticing the moonlight on the wall behind me, the last thing I saw was my alarm clock that read 11:45 p.m.," Petrocelli said.

He woke up one hour later and, instead of being in his bedroom, he was sitting up in his dining room. Petrocelli turned around to see a full-size Ford pickup truck in his bedroom.

The driver of the truck asked if anyone else was in the house. Petrocelli said he started to scream, "Eva, where in the world is my wife Eva?"

Petrocelli saw his blue sheets underneath the truck and noticed something moving under them.

Three paramedics worked on his wife, and Petrocelli was taken by ambulance to a hospital for a broken left arm and burns from the truck's tires.

Petrocelli said a preacher in the hospital approached him and said, "Your wife Eva didn't make it."

According to Petrocelli, his wife didn't have any physical harm done to her body; she had suffocated.

"Everything in this world happens in 10 seconds, and 10 seconds can change your life forever," Petrocelli said.

Since the tragedy, Petrocelli has been traveling the world asking people never to give up.

"We all fall down," Petrocelli said. "The difference between success and failure is the people who succeed over those who fail … get up one more time. You can't change what happened; you can only change what you do."

Petrocelli used Thomas Edison as an example. "It took 1,000 filaments to create a light bulb," Petrocelli said. "What if Edison had given up, like many before him, on the 400th filament or the 500th filament?"

Petrocelli talked about the three F's of a life foundation — faith, fear and forgiveness.

He said that first one has to have faith in oneself. "From the moment you came into this world, your value has not changed," Petrocelli said.

As an example of forgiveness, Petrocelli talked about having to forgive the man who killed his wife.
"If we don't forgive, we hurt ourselves in the long run," Petrocelli said.

Some students came to see Petrocelli speak for a second time.

"Bobbie came to my high school, and I bought his book," freshman Kristen Lundsten said. "I think he's great; he's so courageous."

Freshman Dessie Canelakes said one of his messages that was important to her was "getting away from people who are toxic."

Petrocelli said that, today, some people prepare their lives for those from whom they are trying to get approval.

"The success that you experience is based on every decision you have made and every decision you will ever make," Petrocelli said.

He said that many people are confused with the word preparation. "By doing nothing, you have made a decision," Petrocelli said. "That's how life works — we either prepare to succeed or prepare to fail."

The Office of Health Promotions sponsored Petrocelli's third return to JMU.