MERIDIAN - Kassy Kerfoot loved to joke around. The 18-year-old just graduated from Meridian High School with the world at her fingertips.

Then just days after Christmas, she walked out her mother, Elizabeth Catherman's door, for the last time.

"She said I love you, and that wasn't typical," Catherman said.

Half an hour later, there was a knock and a police officer was at the door.

"Are you the mother of Cassandra Kerfoot? and I said, why?" she said.

In the minutes that followed, she learned her daughter was in a very serious car accident on Eagle Rd.

"And I just kept telling him no, no, no, no," she said.

She died from her injuries late that night.

"We all got to hold on to her when they let her go," she said.

But the Cathermans say her death could've been prevented. Kassy was not wearing a seat belt and she was texting while driving.

"It can happen to anybody," she said.

After losing a child, these parents are on a mission.

"Raise awareness, it's not worth it," she said.

Working with the legislature and local high schools to stop texting while driving.

"Save so many people so much heart ache," she said. "That one minute of time can change your life - save a life."

The Cathermans say they're also teaming up with Meridian High's student council, to hang fliers around the Treasure Valley, hoping no one else will have to suffer this kind of loss.