Alex Sheridan's mother experienced hypoglycemia while behind the wheel of her car. They were driving home from a basketball game a week ago. The 9-year-old sprang into action.
"I'm a diabetic, I've been a diabetic for 37 years," Jennifer Sheridan said.
Living with diabetes for years, Jennifer Sheridan said she knows how to keep her blood sugar in check. But she didn't know her blood sugar was low last Friday when she and her daughter Alex planned to stop at for food close to their New Lenox home on the way back from her nephew's basketball game.
"I don't even remember passing our house, and we ended up about 35 minutes away from our house. The next thing I knew I woke up in an ambulance," Jennifer Sheridan said.
She started driving erratically, Alex said she knew something was wrong with her mom.
"Just sweating, dripping sweat," Alex said.
Jennifer Sheridan's sugar levels dropped dramatically. Alex's father called to check on their whereabouts, Crying and screaming, Alex told him what was happening.
Then her mom swerved off the road near Laraway and Center in Frankfort, and Alex acted fast.
"I turned off the key because we were about to hit a tree and kept my hand it on because I didn't want her to turn it back on and try to get out," Alex said.
The car stopped before hitting the tree.
"You're stunned, you feel guilty because she was in charge and she's 9," Jennifer Sheridan said.
Police and emergency crews responded and called Alex a hero. She got a day off school Friday and a day shopping with her parents.
"In the ER room I promised her she could get an American Girl doll as kind of a reward, but also as a thank you," Jennifer Sheridan said.
On Monday, Jennifer Sheridan says she began using an insulin pump to help control her blood sugar, and hopefully, she says, this will never happen again.
