5-Year-Old Girl Displays Amazing Courage, Saves Family from Car Crash

Sometimes tragedy can make a hero out of the people we least expect. This was the case for 5-year-old Lexi Shymanski, who displayed tremendous courage in saving her family’s life after a horrific car crash.

According to Christian Today, Lexi’s mother Angela passed out while driving her daughter and 10-month-old son home to Prince George, British Columbia after vacationing in Calgary.

The family’s SUV crashed into a tree, causing it to slide down a steep embankment. When she woke up, Lexi somehow managed to escape the wreckage, climb back up the embankment barefoot, and flag down a passing motorist.

As luck would have it, the person Lexi found was a paramedic who immediately called emergency services to safely extract Angela from the car while they waited. The mother of two knows how lucky she was that the first responder was someone with a medical background.

“If they would have jostled me a little bit, I might have been completely paralyzed. It’s hard to know,” Angela said, referring to the bone fragment that became lodged inside her spinal column about a half centimeter from her spinal cord.

The family was airlifted to a hospital in Edmonton to treat their injuries. Angela is still suffering from problems as a result of fractures in her neck and lower back.

Back injuries are the most common result of auto accidents, and chiropractic rehabilitation can often aid patients like Angela who are recovering from the injuries of a crash.

“Early chiropractic treatment provides the best opportunity for optimal healing and recovery after an automobile accident,” says W. Tim Kelly, DC, Kelly Chiropractic. “One of the most common injuries from an automobile accident is whiplash. However, just to name a few, injuries such as upper back pain, low back pain, and headaches can occur. Since chiropractors specialize in the care of bones, muscles, nerves and connective tissue, they are crucial to visit after an accident. All those major parts of the body are important to keep in optimal health and correct alignment so they can function properly and all body systems can operate seamlessly.”

All three involved in the crash are alive despite catastrophic injuries. Ten-month-old Peter was the first one to be rushed into surgery to for severe bleeding in his brain.

Lexi still suffers from nightmares and is in the process of recovering from her substantial injuries.

“But I’m hoping when things settle down, those (injuries) will disappear. I carry major guilt over this whole thing,” Angela said, according to The Citizen.

Despite how tragic this was, it gave light to a tremendous little girl who displayed wisdom and courage beyond her years in a time of panic that most adults wouldn’t be able to handle.