HALL COUNTY, Ga. — It was an ordinary day for Summer Ginn and her daughter Raelyn, 2.
The day started with a moment all of us know too well -- Summer was running late on taking her daughter to school on Tuesday Oct. 25 at 8:20 a.m.
While driving on Hwy 211 heading toward the Challenged Child and Friends school, Summer lost control of her car, ran off the road, over-corrected and crossed two lanes of traffic before hitting a huge tree while going about 60 mph.
"They told me I hit four trees and a mailbox, but my memory gets hazy right before I ran off the road," Summer said.
Summer tells Channel 2's Kimberly Richardson that all she cared about was her little girl, who was sitting in the back seat.
"I heard her crying, so I knew she was alive, but that’s all I knew," Summer said.
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Raelyn is autistic, which made Summer worry about the moments that were ahead, because Raelyn wouldn't be able to tell or show the first responders where she was hurting.
The next thing Summer says she remembers are paramedics arriving on the scene and sliding her out of her car and onto a backboard.
Summer explains that she had a deep gash, about 2.5 inches long, across the back of her head, and blood seemed to just be pouring out of it.
But, Summer says none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was that Raelyn was OK.
Knowing that Raelyn was terrified and that there was nothing Summer could do, she asked the Hall County firefighter holding her daughter if he could sing "Wheels On the Bus" to her.
Without hesitation, firefighters Caleb Rumbaugh and Brian Gregory did just that.
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"There were angels looking over us that day that made sure we were okay, but he was our angel in the flesh who was sent to my car accident for a reason," Summer said.
The first responders on the scene had asked Summer if it was okay to give Raelyn some pain killers to help with any pain she may have. Summer responded of course, knowing the thought of her daughter in pain was unimaginable.
"I assumed they had given her some medicine, because on the drive to the hospital she was so calm," Summer said.
But Raelyn wasn't given any medicine -- it was Rumbaugh and Gregory who were making all the difference.
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Summer says that she knows they didn’t have to intubate her to maintain an airway, but said they were the reason she was able to keep breathing.
"Knowing my child was safe and not in pain allowed me to take another breath," Summer said.
After the crash, Rumbaugh's wife reached out to Summer and wanted to let her know that the car accident wasn't just another day for him.
Cory Rumbaugh wrote to Summer that Rumbaugh "rarely talks about his calls at home and that when he does share his calls with me, I intently listen because I know they affected him somehow."
"He came home the following morning, after working another 48-hour shift, and the first thing he said to me was 'I got to sing to a little girl,'" Cory wrote to Summer.
Summer tells Richardson that she knows the firefighters did so much more that day than he was trained to do.
"Thank you for giving me those brief moments of hope while she was content and quiet," Summer said. "By keeping her calm, you kept me sane (relatively). You made the most traumatic experience of my life sting a little bit less. Our car wreck was just another day on the job for you, but you left a lasting impression on me and I will never forget what you did for us that day."
Cox Media Group
