On Oct. 26, 2006, Jason DeShazer made a choice that proved to be fatal — but not for him.

He chose to crawl into his pickup truck completely wasted after a night of drinking, smoking pot and using cocaine. Eight miles down the Somers cut-across road, DeShazer blacked out and crashed head-on into the vehicle driven by Dawn Bowker, instantly killing the beloved 27-year-old Somers school teacher.

That fateful morning, just past 8 a.m., Bowker was on her way to school.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t wonder why I survived,” DeShazer told Bigfork students during a symposium on Wednesday.

Now 29 and paroled from Montana State Prison, DeShazer tells his story to high school and middle school students across the region, driving home the message that “we are a product of our own choices and each of those choices affects others.”

He has been making the rounds at Flathead Valley schools for Red Ribbon Week, a time set aside for drug prevention education and advocacy.

Ironically, Bowker was killed during Red Ribbon Week, the last week in October.

DeShazer’s presentation at Bigfork High School was particularly poignant. It was the first time he had been back to the school where he attended classes and participated in sports.

“Standing here brings back a lot of memories,” he said, pointing to the spot on the gym floor where he had won his first wrestling match.

It was also an emotional day for Bigfork students mourning the death Monday of Matt Edwards, a recent Bigfork graduate and last year’s Bigfork homecoming king. School officials said they decided to go ahead with DeShazer’s presentation “despite our hurts,” but told students they were welcome to talk to counselors set up in the music room if the content of his talk became too difficult to bear.

DeShazer was born in Libby to a 15-year-old single mother who struggled with substance abuse and addiction. He was taken away from her as a young child and was placed with his grandparents, who live near Bigfork.

“It started right here in this school,” DeShazer said about his own addictions. He started using drugs and alcohol at 15, first every other weekend or to celebrate winning a game. Then it was every weekend, then more often.

“But I had everything under control,” he said. “I had it all figured out.”

So he thought.

Students often ask DeShazer what pushed him “over the edge” to experiment with drugs. He knows now it was a lack of self-confidence.

“I had no self worth. I was trying to be accepted by other people, my classmates, my teammates,” he said.

His message to students is direct: “We are not a product of our past. We’re a product of our own choices on a daily basis.

“For every choice there’s a consequence,” he continued. “I stole the opportunity for Dawn Bowker to make another choice. I violently robbed her of the ability to get married and have children. I stole it with a selfish choice of my own.

“Dawn’s death was completely preventable. Dawn is forever 27 because I made a choice to drive intoxicated.”

As part of his message, DeShazer shares a slide presentation of photographs showing in graphic detail the horrific crash that claimed Bowker’s life as Simple Plan’s song, “How Could This Happen To Me?” plays in the background.

He was severely injured in the crash. He sustained 52 facial fractures, a broken sternum and a bruised heart. Five reconstructive surgeries were completed on his face; his family had to bring in a photograph so doctors could determine how he looked before the collision.

“The perspective is, I’m alive,” he said.

HE was convicted of negligent homicide and sentenced to 20 years in prison with 10 years suspended. He showed students photographs of his small cell and the metal cage in which he was placed outside for one hour each day.

DeShazer served 3 1/2 years and was given early parole at the request of Bowker’s family. Bowker’s mother lives in Bigfork, and he met with her for the first time this week following his presentation to Bigfork students.

He will continue to be supervised by the court system until 2027 and considers his parole — his freedom — an unimaginable gift.

“The price of freedom is responsibility,” he said.

DeShazer now uses his freedom to share his testimony with students in the hope of saving lives. He’s an addiction counselor and is majoring in engineering at Montana Tech in Butte.

He recently reconciled with his high school sweetheart, Katie Schabel, with whom he has an 8-year-old son.

There was a pivotal moment that helped set DeShazer on the right track. He remembers sitting in his holding cell before his sentencing hearing.

“I was building [emotional] walls around myself to protect myself when I got to the courtroom,” he recalled. “Dawn’s family testified and I needed to hear how I impacted them. But the one thing I didn’t build a wall for was forgiveness, their forgiveness. That busted through every layer.

“At the time I was too selfish to know what forgiveness was all about,” he said.

In the end, though, that forgiveness liberated him to turn his life around.

“It’s no longer about me,” he said.

After the Bigfork presentation, students crowded around him with questions and comments. One girl told him with tears in her eyes that she was one of Bowker’s students at Somers School.

“It’s OK,” she said. “I forgive you.”