It only takes a moment for your life to become a nightmare.
That’s how it was for mother of four Sarah Sutton when she and her children were involved in a violent car crash.
In the immediate aftermath, Sarah sat pinned by an airbag, unable to assist her vulnerable kids in the backseats. That’s when her 6-year-old daughter Alayna took it upon herself to become a hero.
Mother of four Sarah Sutton has plenty of experience behind the wheel. She often drives her young flock, consisting of Ryder, Aynsley, Liam and Alayna, to different places for school and activities.
As we’ve already touched upon, however, life can change on a dime. This is something she would come to know well before long.
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The accident
Sarah and all of her children were inside her car when out of nowhere another car drove into the road in front of them. Said car hit Sarah’s vehicle at high speed.
“I was the first car and he hit me head-on. It was like hitting a brick wall,” Sarah, 42, told PEOPLE.
“I just started screaming, ‘My babies! My babies!’”
The vehicle’s airbags were deployed, but the collision had seriously damaged Sarah’s car. With the children stuck in the backseat, and Sarah pinned by the airbag that had deployed in front of the driver’s seat, she had no way of helping her babies.
Fortunately, there was an unlikely hero in her midst. Her 6-year-old daughter, Alayna, would pick up the mantle.
Helping her siblings
Without hesitation, and retaining a calm head despite the screams of her brothers and sister, Alayna began removing her siblings from their car seats and getting them out of the car.
Sarah could see in the rearview mirror that Alayna herself had suffered injuries in the accident, but that didn’t stop her. She put her own fear and pain to one side in order to ensure her siblings could be freed from a truly harrowing situation.
“All four kids were screaming, they were scared. She’s my little mama, she really is. She just takes care of all of her siblings.”
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Sarah the hero
A short time after the collision, people began rushing to the car in order to help Sarah and her children.
Sarah herself had the most serious injuries, but after a visit to the hospital she was placed on the road to recovery. Since that day, the family has suffered from nightmares, and things have yet to return to normality following the collision. Sarah is under no illusions over how lucky they are to have all survived though.
“There was no way we should have made it out. There’s no way,” she says.
In spite of it all, tribute must be paid to 6-year-old Alayna’s heroic efforts in helping her brother and sisters when they were in need – it shows just how powerful the instinctual bond between siblings can be.
“We’re very, very proud of [Alayna] I think for her, it’s just second nature. We’re a very tight-knit family … she’s just like, ‘What’s the big deal?’ She’s always looking out for them,” Sarah told PEOPLE.
6-year-old Alayna really is a true hero! Help us spread this story to pay tribute to her amazing, courageous acts in helping her siblings from the wreckage of the car.
