In a heartbreaking twist of fate, a young mum has given birth to her baby - just 24 hours after her fiancé was killed in a tragic truck crash.
Stefanie Texeira, 32, and her unborn son, Kayson, survived when the truck that she and fiancé Kevin Porker, 40, were travelling in jack-knifed. Kevin was killed instantly, but Stefanie who was sleeping in the cabin, managed to escape.
Police say if the expectant mum had been in the passenger seat, she would have been killed too.
The couple were hauling wine grapes from Robinvale, near Geelong in Victoria, when the truck they were travelling in crashed only kilometres from their destination; a rural winery, on a notorious stretch of road.
Kevin was killed when the truck jack-knifed on the steep road, while Stefanie - who was 39 weeks pregnant at the time - managed to crawl out of the mangled wreck in darkness, and search for her partner’s phone to call emergency services.
“She crawled out of the back of the cabin, crawled up the hill and made the phone call,” Bannockburn Police Senior Constable Kristen Towers said, according to Kidspot.au.
Amazingly, Stefanie escaped the horrific crash with just bruises and no major injuries. She was rushed to hospital, where she gave birth to son Kayson, just 24 hours after Kevin’s death. Despite the accident, Kayson was in perfect health.
Stefanie said the couple were using Google Maps on their journey and had turned onto a very steep road when the accident occurred.
“It was a scary ride. It was like a nightmare where you can’t get off of it, you can’t stop,” she recalled to Seven News.
“I was trying to call out to him but there was just silence. I was OK, I was walking around, and I just wanted to get help for him.
“I checked to see if there was a pulse but in that moment, you just want to go and get help because you just want someone to save him,” she said.
“It was supposed to be the three of us coming back together, starting our life together as parents.”
Kevin had been looking forward to becoming a dad and had hoped they would have a baby boy. "We didn't know what we were having, he was very adamant about having a surprise,” the proud mother said.
Baby Kayson looks very like his late father Kevin, a bittersweet reminder for the brave young mum.
