What’s better than one 11-year-old hero? How about two!
Jermel and Jordan Taylor are fraternal twins who, like many twins, share a special bond. The brothers were in their mom Crystal Thompson’s Dodge SUV driving down the highway on the way to their grandmother’s house one afternoon when they noticed a change in Crystal’s behavior.
Crystal was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2014, but only experiences seizures once in a while. There’s no warning before a seizure, yet Jermel and Jordan figured out what was happening in just a split second. Their quick reactions are now credited with saving their mom’s life, and potentially the lives of other drivers!
As Crystal’s seizure began, Jermel, who was riding in the front seat, reached across to grab the steering wheel and guide the vehicle off the roadway onto the grass. Meanwhile, Jordan quickly called his step-father from the backseat, then dialed 911. They were both scared, but managed to relay enough details to the operator to dispatch police.
The brothers took care of their mother until help arrived. Crystal was taken to the hospital and doesn’t remember any of the incident.
“After the wreck, the only thing that I remember is me waking up in the ambulance, and one of the ambulance drivers, the first thing she said is that the boys were OK and that they were with their stepdad and my mom,” she recalled. “So, after that, I pretty much don’t remember anything until later on that night when I was already home.”
When she heard what her sons had done, Crystal was incredibly proud – and she wasn’t the only one! Massillon, Ohio mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry and the Massillon Police Department honored the brothers with a special recognition ceremony.
“We really felt that it was a worthy incident to recognize these two young twin boys, 11 years old, for their bravery, that was just amazing,” the mayor stated. “The outcome could have been terrible. And these young men really saved the day.”
Jermel and Jordan are modest about their new hero status, but both urge other kids to take action when someone needs help.
“You don’t know how long somebody’s gonna live and that’s why you should always help them out,” Jermel said. “You should always be a hero, no matter what they have wrong with them. You should always be a hero no matter what happens.”
It takes a lot of bravery and street-smarts to take the wheel like that! These brothers really activated their apparent super twin powers when it mattered most.
Share this story to congratulate Jermel and Jordan for their quick thinking.
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