"Some are visible scars, some are invisible scars, but we all have them and they teach us things about ourselves and we can share those lessons with others to help them," she said.

Nearly 20 years to the day of a horrific drunk driving crash that left a young college student severely injured, she's thanking a passerby for stopping to hold her hand. A simple act of kindness that got her through the most frightening moments of her life.

It's been 20 years, but Laura Beauparlant remembers the night of Nov. 12, 1995 vividly. A second year student at Sheridan College, she'd been returning to Toronto from her parents' house in Guelph when her car was struck by an impaired driver.