A family left devastated by a tragic accident that killed their 12-year-old son and left their 10-year-old daughter in critical condition at Sick Children’s Hospital in Toronto wanted the community to know how much their love and support is helping.
On December 2, 2020 at approximately 8 a.m. two siblings were struck by a vehicle outside their home on the 7th Line near Campbellcroft as they were about to board a bus for school.
Twelve-year-old Cormac Kerin died at the scene of the collision. His 10-year-old sister, Shea was transported by Northumberland Paramedics with a police escort to Northumberland Hills Hospital and airlifted to Sick Children’s Hospital where she remains in critical condition.
While the Kerin family tries to deal with the loss of their son while remaining at the beside of their daughter Shea, they wanted to take time to send a message to the community of Port Hope and area who are also feeling the shock and grief of what happened to the family.
On Friday, December 4, 2020 the parents of the children, Jennifer and Brendan asked Today’s Northumberland to relay a message to the community on behalf of the family.
“Shea is going under a major orthopaedic operation this afternoon to begin repair parts of her fractured spine,” wrote Brendan.
“Everyone’s prayers and thoughts ARE helping her.”
“We had a small miracle of hope this morning (Friday) when she unexpectedly opened her eyes and tried to sit up. Nobody was expecting it.”
Brendan said the family is so grateful for the “first responder heroes.”
And added that in his previous message, “I felt I didn’t give enough credit to EMS (paramedics) and our volunteer firefighters.”
“Please let them know from me how grateful I am and how hard it must be for everyone.”
“In particular, there is one person I need to single out.”
“In the first eight-minutes of this terror, volunteer fire fighter Brandon Bliss ran to the scene and rendered first aid.”
Bliss is neighbours with the Kerin family and they are very close friends.
“I will never be able to thank him enough for what he did and had to endure.”
Brendan said he hasn’t spoke with his neighbour yet, but wants him to know, “what a hero he is,” “Brandon did so many things without support for close to eight-minutes before other emergency services came.”
The Kerin family would also like to the community of Port Hope and beyond.
“Jennifer, Aishling, and I are so grateful to our community. We cannot emphasize enough how much the love and support is helping us try and even come to terms with this.”
Today’s Northumberland will provide further updates as they become available.
Editorial – Cloud of Grief Over Entire Community After Devastating Crash
Horrific Collision Kills 12-Year-Old Child – His 10-Year-Old Sister Airlifted to Toronto Hospital
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
