TUCSON, AZ. (KPHO/Gray News) – An Arizona mother is mourning the loss of her 11-year-old son who died in a car crash after her tire blew out on the highway, authorities said.

The whole thing happened on August 13 on I-10, KPHO reported.

Irene Harms and her son Noley were on their way home to Tucson after visiting Phoenix for a doctor’s appointment.

Harms told KPHO that they stopped at the gas station to get snacks and were heading east on I-10 when their tire blew, sending them into a ditch off the side of the highway and then back onto the roadway before being struck by a pickup truck heading in the same direction.

“The noise was as loud as it could be and I gripped the steering wheel as tight as I could,” she said.

Irene said the car rolled over several times and landed on its roof.

“As we turn around, I stretch out my arm and try to find him,” she said.

She said she dragged herself out the window through the broken glass to save Noley. Good Samaritans tried to help, but it was too late.

“I knew he was gone, even though no one told me he was gone, but he had to be gone because why is everyone trying to help me and not him,” she said. “I fell back, laid down on the asphalt in the glass, stared up at the sky and said, ‘Okay, I’m ready. I’m ready to go, too.’

Despite the immediate suffering and chaos, Irene said a paramedic saved her life, not through his physical intervention but through his words.

“He said, ‘Listen, I lost a child recently. I know what you’re going through.’ I said, ‘How can you still be here? How can you be going through this?’ And he said, ‘Do you have other children?’ And that flipped a switch for me because I realized I had two little boys at home, five and six, who had no idea what was happening and couldn’t lose mom and brother.”

Irene stays strong for her family. She describes Noley as a unique little boy, too good for this world.

“I miss him every second of the day,” she said.

Irene has a broken back and ribs, as well as cuts on her arms, back and legs. She was only released from hospital on Friday morning.

The family has a GoFundMe created to help with Noley’s funeral expenses.

Copyright 2024 KPHO via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.