According to reports, a 16-year-old girl who was killed in a sledge accident in upstate New York died while protecting her 3-year-old cousin in the tragic accident.
Renee Hill, a sophomore at Niagara Wheatfield High School, and her cousin were driving down a hill in a sledge tube at Clyde L. Burmaster Park in Lewiston when they hit a tree around 10 a.m. Saturday, officials said.
They were transported by ambulance to the Oishei Children’s Hospital, where Renee was pronounced dead, WIVB reported. The boy was treated and released.
Renee’s heartbroken mother, Alexis Kraft, described how the tragedy unfolded – and what her daughter’s “first instinct” was to save her cousin.
She had gone down the hill. She had my 3 year old nephew with her. She saw the tree coming. Her first instinct was to put her foot on the ground and turn the sled so that my nephew wouldn’t get hurt. She hit the tree. Her heart stopped on the way to the hospital, ”Kraft told WKBW.
Everyone calls her a hero. But that was my baby, ”she added. “She was our whole world.”
Renee, described as a ‘mama bear’, was the oldest of four children.
‘She was definitely a mama bear. She was able to get them in line very quickly, but she was loving and they all loved her, ”said her mother.
“Everyone loved her,” the girl’s father, Richard Hill, told WKBW.
Renee’s lacrosse coach, Joe Kiszka, said the teen was a strong, quiet leader who was feared on the field, but was an absolute treasure of it.
“All the parents and all the other girls on the team called her the beast because once she got on the field she would just go really hard,” added her mother.
Renee’s parents thanked the community for their support after the loss of her daughter.
Don’t take a minute for granted with your babies. Tell them you love them. Every minute. Any chance you get, ”Kraft said.
A GoFundMe fundraiser has raised more than $ 20,000 to date from its $ 25,000 goal to help the family.