CANTON, Ohio — When James and Joey Budd want to visit Sharon Budd, their mom, they go to the Inn at Belden Village in Canton, Ohio.
Visiting Sharon at an assisted living facility, where their dad Randy's ashes sit on a shelf, is not where the Budds saw their lives ten years ago.
"When your moments of happiness are all gripped with a weird sorrow, it's a very hard thing to try to put into words," Joey Budd said.
July 10, 2014, was the day the Budd family's lives changed forever. Sharon, her husband Randy, and their daughter Kaylee, who was 19 then, were on their way to New York City to see a Broadway show. They were driving on Interstate 80 east in Union County as they approached the Gray Hill Road overpass. Someone threw a rock from the overpass, shattering the windshield and leaving Sharon critically injured.
"My dad had actually called me and told me that we should head out to Pennsylvania to say goodbye before my mom passed away," James Budd recalled.
Sharon's oldest son, Luke, was about to be deployed to Afghanistan, but he, his brothers Joey and James, and Sharon's parents rushed to the Danville area to be by her side.
"A pretty big shift from hanging out with your friends and then the worst possible news," Joey said.
Sharon had 13 surgeries, nine in the first three and a half months. Doctors removed a section of her brain, her right eye, and part of her face. Sharon does not remember what happened to her.
"I have little splashes of what happened, but not even one minute long," Sharon said.
Newswatch 16 recently spent two days with Sharon and her family at her assisted living facility in Ohio. Sharon has been there a little over a year and says she likes it. She spends most of her time reading.
For the most part, Sharon is upbeat and happy except when it's time to take her medicine, her least favorite part of the day.
Immediately after the accident, her husband Randy and sister-in-law Rhonda Williams cared for her.
"The first couple years of her being home was very, very stressful," Rhonda said.
In August of 2016, Randy Budd died by suicide.
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After that, her son James and his wife stepped in.
"For seven years straight, I took care of my mom at her house," James said, adding that he was 26 when he started caring for her.
"They were right at the point in their lives when you need that guidance, you need your mom and dad there, you need them to guide you through life, and they didn't have that," Rhonda said.
Four men either pleaded guilty or no contest to charges related to the rock throwing.
Brett and Dylan Lahr, Tyler Porter, and Keefer McGee were all teenagers at the time. They were all sentenced to less than five years in prison.
"I'm not a vengeful person, but there is a level where you want somebody to understand your pain, so you know what they grabbed from you, and words don't do that," Joey said.
"They literally destroyed my entire family and future in about one second," James added.
After Sharon was hurt, the Budd family spent about three and a half months in central Pennsylvania. People in our area provided the Budds with food, housing, prayers, and kindness. There was even a fundraiser called Sharon Budd Day.
"I don't think I'll ever see anything like it again. It was so touching and so overwhelming that people would care this much of what happened in their area," Rhonda said.
Last year, Sharon had a setback in her recovery.
"Her whole one side of her face swelled up and she ended up having an infection in her eye socket," Rhonda said.
Sharon is now 62. She does not cook or drive and is not responsible for herself. Rhonda said it's hard to see what her future holds.
"She is an adult, but it's just like having a child," Rhonda said. "I always just try to keep her happy."
And Sharon is happy, especially when her family is there.