SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Julie Rice has done the math. It doesn't look good.

The first bill, for $40,000, arose from doctors' desperate efforts to try to save her son during his last four hours of life after a driver police said was drunk crashed into a car, killing her husband and fatally injuring her son.

"It was a medical bill. It was for my son. And when I opened it, it was a charge for the tube that they put down his throat because his lungs were collapsed. And that was also for the removal of half of his liver and his spleen," Rice said. "And then the next day there was another bill. They just kept coming."

There was another $14,500 to pay for funerals for her son and husband. She got $12,000 from a state victim's fund, but she's now being told she may have to repay some of that money.

She had to come up with $3,000 to pay off the loan on her husband's vehicle that was totaled in the crash. Insurance paid $10,000, but $13,000 was owed on the car, she said.

The funeral for Robert "Bubba" Owens and Edward Rice is one of many costs Julie Rice struggled to pay for in the weeks following their deaths.

Rice's predicament gives an often not discussed glimpse into the costs that follow a fatal DWI crash or similar loss. She lost her husband and son in an instant, and that pain was made worse by the medical bills and other costs that arrived in the days and weeks that followed.

Rice said she could easily lose her South Side home in the face of mounting bills. The crash has left her and her family in precarious financial position, a common problem facing many families in the wake of fatal hit-and-run crashes, her lawyer said.

"It's obviously tragic. I feel sorry for her," said Anthony Martoccia, Rice's lawyer. "It always seems to be the person who ends up getting in these accidents doesn't have insurance, or doesn't have enough insurance, and leaves the family out in the cold."

It's common drunk drivers don't have sufficient assets or insurance to help by for the losses suffered by their victims, said Martoccia, whose firm, Stanley Law, has represented many other victims like Rice.

On Sept. 22, Syracuse police pulled over Eric Dempsey for a traffic infraction on Shonnard Street. When officers got out of their car, Dempsey drove off. Less than half a mile later, Dempsey's SUV crashed into a sedan driven by Edward Rice.

Rice's son, Robert "Bubba" Owens, 22, and husband, Edward Rice, 49, died. Demsey, 39, of Syracuse was charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter, DWI and other charges. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide.

Rice made it clear she's not looking for handouts. She's sharing her story so that the people who cause these types of accidents are held responsible financially as well as criminally.

"I don't want people to think that I'm asking for anything," she said. "The only thing I'm asking for is, I think he should be responsible for these bills."

"If this didn't happen, there would be no medical bills," she said. "There would be no funeral expenses. I mean, we did not cause this. He did."

But it is hard to get money from someone if they don't have money. Rice's attorney said his firm did an asset search for Dempsey and determined he had very little wealth, which eliminated a wrongful death suit as an option.

The Onondaga County District Attorney's Office will ask the judge to order for Dempsey to pay restitution to Rice, said Rick Trunfio, the chief assistant district attorney. But, if he's convicted, he'll be in prison for up to 24 years and will therefore be likely unable to pay Rice a dime, he said.

"The defendant, if convicted, will most likely be in state prison for a long time with no ability to pay, nor any way to enforce the restitution order," Trunfio said in an email. "It could be converted to a civil judgment, but again, collecting that money when a defendant is in state prison may be impossible."

Robert "Bubba" Owens graduated from Fowler High School in 2014. He's pictured here with his mother, Julie Rice.

All that was left was to sue Dempsey's insurance company, and the maximum award is $50,000 for each person killed, Martoccia said.

So Rice stands to get two $50,000 settlements from Dempsey's insurance company. But the settlements then get divvied up until there isn't much left.

Martoccia's firm gets a third of the settlements for handling the case.

The state Office of Victims Assistance could take a slice of the money to recoup some of the $12,000 it gave Rice to pay for the funerals of her husband and son. Officials said, however, that her financial need will be reviewed before they take back any money.

The remainder of the settlements get divided among other people. Some of her son's settlement is given to her ex-husband, Owens' father. The settlement for her death is split among Rice and her husband's children from a prior marriage. The amount to Rice is also reduced to reflect the $25,000 value of her home which was transferred to her name upon her husband's death.

Rice estimates she'll have about $5,000 out of the $100,000 by the end of the process.

That doesn't begin to cover her costs caused by the crash: the medical bills for her son, the funeral costs and more.

When the settlement finally is awarded, Rice will have to wait seven months to allow any creditors to make a claim on the rest of the money. She said she doesn't believe she has any other outstanding debts.

In the meantime, Rice, who is disabled, said she's worried about losing her home.

In addition to the obvious personal loss, Rice's son and husband were the primary household income earners: Her husband worked 60 hours a week in the U.S. Postal Service and her son worked at a bar. Her brother-in-law has moved in to help with the bills.

"I understand, you know, that (Dempsey is) in jail, but we are too," Rice said. "I have just as much as he has. I don't have the money to pay these bills. And neither does he... I have to be responsible for them anyway. And I don't think that's fair."

Edward Rice owns two of these t-shirts calling his wife "awesome." He bought them himself. He's so proud of these shirts," his wife said, laughing.

"He'll get out someday," she said. "And he'll go on and live a normal life. We never will. Birthdays will be spent at the cemetery just like my son's past birthday in November. Holidays will be spent at the cemetery."

Recently, Rice said the unfairness made her desperate. She wrote a letter to Mayor Ben Walsh asking for help, though there isn't much a mayor can do in situations like hers.

"I am asking for help Mr. Walsh because without it this man might as well have killed myself and the rest of my family along with my husband and son," she wrote Jan. 29.

Walsh wrote her back to express his condolences and said he would consult with the District Attorney's Office about "ways to address the responsibilities of convicted drunk drivers to their victims."

"While these matters are not under the control of a city mayor, my hope is that I can learn more about what, if any, legal reforms can be undertaken to provide relief to you or others in your situation," Walsh wrote.

Rice heard from the local victim's assistance office on March 19, and an employee there said they had been contacted by the mayor's office with questions. There was no obvious path to ease her financial stress, Rice said.

In the meantime, Rice described every day since the crash as "hell." Everything around her reminds her of her husband and son, she said.

"I wake up every morning and I cry. It's like a ritual," she said. "There's nothing that's not a reminder."