Rogers and Hammerstein wrote oh so famously that “at the end of the storm, there’s a golden sky.”
At their home on the range, an Oklahoma couple are beginning to see that golden sky beyond a stormy nightmare that forced their 9-year-old son to try and save their lives after a tornado overtook their car and left them with terrible injuries.
It was back in April when tornadoes were reported to be en route to the home town of Wayne and Lindy Baker, and it was on their evacuation path to a shelter in Dickson, Oklahoma, that disaster struck.
Seeing the tornado a mile or so off, it suddenly changed direction and overtook the Bakers as they drove down the road in their Ford pickup. It sent the truck smashing to the ground before a tree fell atop it, pinning the front seats under its weight.
Inside, Wayne and Lindy suffered broken necks, backs, ribs, and arms, but in the rear seats, 9-year-old Branson was unharmed. He got out of the truck and ran a mile down the road in pitch darkness due to a power outage from the winds until he found a house with people inside who could help.
CBS News got ahold of the story via Wayne’s brother, Johnny, who was on the phone with Wayne at the moment the tornado hit them.
“I heard a ‘ding ding ding’ like hail or rocks hitting the windshield, then a large crash and the phone went dead,” he told the outlet.
Johnny and his partner rushed to the scene, but with so much debris and live power lines down along the roads, it made for slow going. The truck was so mangled by the incident that it wasn’t clear to Johnny if it belonged to Wayne until he heard screaming from inside.
Shortly after, Branson, who had run a ten-minute mile, returned with a neighbor, and together they did what they could to help Wayne and Lindy before 911 arrived to transport the parents to OU Medical Center.
“The last thing Branson told them was, ‘Mom, dad, please don’t die, I will be back,’” Johnny recalled. “…He had to become his parent’s superman… That’s exactly what he said. He said, ‘I have to save my parents.’”
Wayne and Lindy are contractors and the injuries left them unsure as to their future ability to earn a living. A friend of the family set up a GoFundMe to help pay for their medical bills and replace the truck, which as of publishing has raised an inspiring $100,000.
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In May, Branson and Wayne spoke to Good Morning America about their ordeal. The boy admitted he was very scared, and both were clearly still enduring the trauma of the event.
“I couldn’t be more proud to be a father,” Wayne said, conducting the interview in a neck brace. “A son that can accept a challenge in that way shows that he would go above and beyond for anyone.”
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In a July update on the GoFundMe, the organizer revealed that Wayne has made a substantial recovery and was able to return to work, while Lindy has removed her back brace, but requires a second surgery on her right hand.
As parents, we sometimes fear our children will grow up too quickly. Forced into traumatic circumstances, there’s no doubt that Branson has done a lot of growing this year of a kind that Wayne and Lindy can hopefully be proud of.
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.@ABC NEWS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: 9-year-old hero saves parents during tornado.
“I was really really scared.” pic.twitter.com/uUFsjRpMAs
— Good Morning America (@GMA) May 6, 2024
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