Logan had suffered a heartbreaking loss, but an incredible stranger brought a ray of hope…
Fastening the seatbelt next to me, I tugged on my own before taking a deep breath in.
‘You ready?’ I asked.
‘Oh yeah!’ chirped the little voice next to me.
I was with my five-year-old JoLynn, and we were doing one of our favourite activities together – riding a rollercoaster!
My son Walker, three, was too scared to join us, so JoLynn was my theme-park buddy.
As a single parent I took every chance I could to have quality time with each of my two kids.
JoLynn was a complete ball of energy, and a real daredevil – she wasn’t scared of anything.
She loved gymnastics and baseball, and we’d go to the nail salon to get pedicures together, or take trips to the zoo.
Even though Walker didn’t come with us on the rollercoasters, my children were best friends, and JoLynn would always take care of her little brother.
‘Clean your room, JoLynn,’ I’d say to her.
‘But I’ve already cleaned Walker’s – mine doesn’t matter,’ came her cheeky reply.
One day, Walker and I picked JoLynn up from her weekly Thursday dance class.
‘You’re seeing your dad this evening,’ I told them both in the car.
Later, I watched as their dad drove them away at 6pm and I went off to Bingo with some pals.
Only as I left the hall at around 8pm, an unknown number lit up my phone screen.
‘Hello?’ I picked up.
'I really tried to save her'
‘Do you know Walker?’ came the voice.
‘Yes, that’s my son,’ I replied, panic rushing through me.
‘I’m the hospital chaplain. Walker was in a car accident – he’s unconscious,’ he said.
‘Oh my goodness,’ I gasped. ‘Where is my daughter?’
‘I’m afraid I don’t know,’ he replied.
Grabbing my keys, I jumped in the car, driving an hour to the hospital.
I spent the whole journey trying to find out what had happened to JoLynn, but nobody would tell me.
It wasn’t until I got there that I saw on social media there had been a fatality.
‘Where is JoLynn?’ I screamed, begging anyone to tell me.
I rushed to see my little boy.
He was covered in burns, but thankfully, alive.
‘Thank god,’ I whispered into his hair.
But it wasn’t until 11pm that I found out JoLynn hadn’t survived the car crash.
My heart felt like it had shattered into a million shards.
‘What happened?’ I asked a doctor.
‘I think you should ask this man,’ he replied, showing me to a stranger’s room.
Confused, I saw a patient I didn’t recognise, covered in bandages.
‘I’m AJ,’ he croaked. ‘I really tried to save her.’
AJ went on to explain that he’d seen some flames in the bushes, and running to get closer, realised it was a car on fire after a crash.
Walker and JoLynn’s dad was on the floor in pain, and said to him, ‘Can you save my kids?’
AJ sprang into action and pulled Walker out from the burning car.
‘It took me a while to pull
him out, and as I got him out,
I noticed that there was another little girl next to him in a car seat,’ he explained.
As JoLynn regained consciousness, AJ tried to get her out too.
But the clasp of JoLynn’s car seat was jammed.
‘She was crying, and I was talking to her, trying to calm her down,’ AJ sobbed.
The brave stranger kept trying to free her, but was having a hard time breathing from all the smoke.
Then the roof of the car collapsed on to him, and there was nothing he could do.
‘I had to leave her,’ he wept.
I was in floods too.
‘You saved my son?’ I sobbed.
Then I pulled him in for a hug as he winced from the pain.
We both sat there, holding hands and crying our eyes out.
JoLynn died in the fire, I realised in horror. But this amazing stranger saved my son’s life.
How can I get through this? I wondered.
AJ needed two skin grafts and Walker suffered third-degree burns.
But they both recovered well, which was something.
For the next 11 days we would eat dinner with AJ in the hospital canteen.
We got to know him well, and having him there as a support really helped.
Walker thought he was a real-life superhero!
Only, when it came time to leave and return to an empty house, my new horrifying reality began to sink in.
The cushioning of the hospital had almost protected me from what had happened.
Now I had to prepare for a funeral, care for my son while grieving, and come back to
a home without JoLynn.
Without JoLynn’s constant chatter, the space felt so very quiet.
‘Mummy, I’m bored,’ Walker said one day.
My heart broke.
He would never have said something like that had JoLynn been around.
Walker was still too young to truly understand what happened to his sister, but he knew she was no longer with us.
Family and friends rallied around us.
But incredible support came from someone unexpected…
Now, three months later, I
still speak to AJ every day.
We’ve become incredibly close, and he dotes on Walker.
Recently we had a Christmas family photoshoot that I’d booked months earlier.
But since JoLynn couldn’t be there, AJ came instead.
The photos show just how close we’ve all become.
I miss JoLynn every second of every day.
But I’ll forever
be grateful to AJ
for what he did.
A total stranger truly became family the day he rescued my boy.
Logan Deines, 29
● You can donate to JoLynn and AJ’s GoFundMes by searching ‘JoLynn Wills Deines’, and ‘Support AJ’s Recovery After Heroic Rescue’ on gofundme.com