DANIA BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A family has been left grieving after their loved one was killed in a wrong-way crash in Dania Beach.

After a night out, 21-year-old Adam Abdou-Essa was the designated driver as he drove a friend home in the early hours of July 25.

They were heading south on U.S. 1, just passing Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport when, officials said, a driver going the wrong way, hit them head-on.

Abdou-Essa was rushed to the hospital in a coma.

“We prayed all night, and we thought we shook heaven with our prayers, and the next day we came in and the scan showed worse,” said his sister, Amanda Abdou-Essa.

Five days later, doctors declared Adam brain dead.

“Even at that time, we still prayed because we wanted him so bad, no matter what form he was in,” said his sister. “We wanted him to still be with us.”

Adam had recently finished up school at Broward College and had plans to attend the University of Florida this fall to become a doctor.

“[He] always referred to himself as Dr. Adam; he only had eight more credits for his pre-med,” said his father Mohamed Abdou-Essa. “My son was very free-spirited, very loving, very happy.”

Family was everything to Adam. Cell phone video captured loved ones singing “Happy Birthday” to him at his recent birthday party.

The family member he was particularly close to was his mother, who was left devastated after the crash.

“There was nobody closer than my mom and my brother, so the pain that she’s feeling,” Amanda said. “Me and my sister are just trying to support her the best that we can.”

Now for family members, it’s all about making sure this doesn’t happen ever again.

“My brother’s death wasn’t for nothing. It was due to the negligence of someone else,” Amanda said. “More importantly, I just don’t want it to happen in the future.”

The family plans to advocate for new signs that warn drivers that they are driving the wrong way.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office said they are investigating and no charges have been filed.

Grieving family members are now busy making funeral arrangements, and it’s getting expensive.

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