Jacqueline Saburido was born on 20 December 1978 in
Caracas, Venezuela, as the only child to Rosalia and Amadeo Saburido who were both immigrants from the Spanish province of
Galicia. Following her parents'
divorce, she spent her childhood in Caracas with her father. Saburido pursued an engineering degree in hopes of taking over her family's highly successful
air conditioning manufacturing business that her father established when he was young. In August 1999, feeling overwhelmed by her studies she decided to take a break from her college classes and moved to
Austin, Texas to learn how to speak English at a private language school near the
University of Texas. On 19 September 1999, Saburido and several friends left a birthday party near
Lake Travis and accepted a ride home from a classmate, who was driving a 1990
Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight Regency. Shortly into the drive, their vehicle was struck by a customized 1996
GMC Yukon owned and driven by Reginald Stephey, a senior student at
Lake Travis High School and a star
wide receiver on the school’s
football team. Stephey was heavily intoxicated after attending a party with some friends, despite Texas's law that prohibits anyone under 21 from buying or possessing alcohol. The collision killed Natalia Chpytchak Bennett, the driver and owner of the Oldsmobile, and Laura Guerrero, one of the passengers. Saburido became trapped inside the burning wreckage. Passing paramedics managed to douse the fire and tried to pull the occupants free, Despite suffering second- and third-degree burns across more than 60% of her body, Saburido survived. Her fingers had to be amputated, though surgeons were able to salvage enough bone to construct an
opposable thumb. She lost her hair, ears, nose, lips, left eyelid, and much of her vision. Saburido subsequently underwent more than 120 reconstructive operations, including
cornea transplants to restore her left eye. In June 2001, Stephey was convicted for two counts of
intoxicated manslaughter and sentenced to seven years in prison. Saburido and Stephey met for the first time after his trial and conviction in 2001. Saburido has stated that Stephey "destroyed my life completely", but forgave him. Regarding the meeting, Stephey later stated: "What sticks out in my mind is, 'Reggie, I don't hate you.' It's really touching someone can look you in the eyes and have that much compassion after all that I have caused". Saburido was among 21 disfigured people who had approached surgeons at a
London hospital to carry out
Britain's first
face transplant operation; she was not selected. She continued looking into other possibilities for a face transplant in other nations and hospitals. ==Advocacy and media appearances==