INDIAN TRAIL, N.C. — While most of us drive just to get where we are going, Kasandra Hegwood drives with a purpose, even if that means taking the longer way to get to her destination.
“Stoplights and stop signs have become my best friends. Where I used to be frustrated with them now I’m like, ‘Whoo, somebody gets to read something good,’” Hegwood said.
That something good is right on the back of her SUV’s rear windshield, with a message that reads: “You were created on purpose, for a purpose. You just need to believe in you.”
“I write the messages, and you would think you look back with your natural eyes and see it written backward, right? But in the rearview mirror, I can read it properly. So it’s a message to myself too,” Hegwood explained.
It’s a message that she said she needs to hear just as much as those who read it behind her.
“Today would be my sister’s 36th birthday. She’s not with us anymore. She took her life. February will be four years,” Hegwood elaborated.
She said her younger sister Kaitlin is always in her heart.
“The last time we talked to her. She had called; she had video-called for my daughter’s birthday,” Hegwood said.
She said she has a photo from Kaitlin’s funeral that captures everyone in her family, except one member.
That member was her other sibling, Keaton, who she had already lost to suicide.
“In December of 2013, my baby brother also committed suicide. My mother had three children, and I’m the last one left,” Hegwood said.
If it seems like this would be a lot for one person to bear, Hegwood said it is. But that’s not the end of her story.
Shortly after her brother’s death, she was diagnosed with stage-three breast cancer.
“And everybody’s helping you, and everybody wants to be there for you. Right in the beginning, everything’s pink, pink, pink ... and then it’s gray. And your hair falls out. Your breasts are removed. Your body doesn’t feel like it’s yours anymore,” Hegwood elaborated.
The weight of it all became so overwhelming that the wife and mother of four said she saw no other way out and began making plans to take her life as well.
“I had it, and I was in my vehicle and with every ounce of gumption to go run my car smooth off with. I was numb. I had made my mind up that it was over. I couldn’t do it anymore,” Hegwood said.
It was in that moment that a phone call from friends literally saved her life.
“And they were like, ‘Whoa, you have a calling on your life. And this is not what you need; you have beautiful children.’ Encouragement. They gave me hope,” Hegwood explained. “And I said I think from here on out I need to live on purpose. I think I need to live on purpose.”
Her car is now part of that purpose. Once a month, Hegwood erases an old message to make room for a new one. Each message is carefully thought out and intended to reach whoever’s behind her.
“You should be so proud of yourself. You’ve pushed through and made it to another day. Do not stop now. Keep going,” Hegwood said.
So if you see Hegwood riding around town, know the message you see on the back of her car is for her, her sister, her brother, and for you, if you need it.
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