Heroic Mom Shields Her Daughter From Tennis Ball-Sized Hail

Parents

October 19, 2018

A mom from Queensland, Australia is making international headlines for her gasp-worthy act of bravery. Fiona Simpson, a mom of a 4-month-old named Clara, was driving home with her 78-year-old grandmother when a destructive hailstorm hit, according to ABC Australia. After a hailstone blew out her car window, Simpson was increasingly terrified that her little one's life was in danger, so she pulled over and jumped in the backseat to shield her daughter.

Simpson told ABC, "All this rain starts coming in, and the back window where my daughter was was just open … it’s gone. It was so scary but there was no time to be afraid … It just all happened so fast. I jumped over the back seat, over her car seat, holding my body over hers. I looked down and I could see she was screaming, but I couldn’t even hear her, that’s how loud it was."

Simpson explained to CafeMom in an as-told-to essay, "I didn’t know how bad the storm was until the hail started. But even then, at first it was very small and I thought it would be all right. As things got worse, I pulled over because I couldn't see in front of me. But then glass started to shatter." The hail was ultimately the size of tennis balls, Simpson noted.

Once the storm passed, Simpson made her way home and screamed for help, prompting neighbors to call the paramedics. “It wasn’t until I got in the ambulance that I realized that if I didn’t do that she [her baby] could have been seriously hurt or killed, anything could have happened,” she told ABC. Her body was "numb" and covered with "significant bruising," and the photos of her injuries—which she shared on social media—are so heartbreaking.

Thankfully, little Clara "just had a few cuts and bruises but nothing major, unlike me," Simpson told CafeMom. "I still can’t believe it happened and am so grateful that she’s here. My grandma was worse than me, but she's doing better and is home recovering now after spending a night in the hospital. I'm sore and tired, but my husband has been really great at taking care of us."

In retrospect, Simpson is simply grateful that she, her grandmother, and her baby girl survived this horrific experience. "At the end of the day, all that matters is that we're alive … a car can be replaced and bruises can heal and we're just all safe right now," she shared with ABC.

Her words of wisdom for anyone who might find themselves in a similar situation: "If you know there is a storm coming just wait it out. We did the right thing, there's nothing else we could have done. I just can't believe hail could have done that."