‘I’m not leaving my son’: Mother recalls desperate moments as teen pulled from burning crash

“I’m not leaving my son.”

That’s what Breanna Dillon remembered telling bystanders as flames spread through her family’s crashed vehicle near Paynton last Thursday – her 13-year-old boy still trapped inside.

Minutes earlier, the family had been driving home to North Battleford from Lloydminster. Near Highway 16, everything changed.

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“All I know is we were hit and we were rolling,” Dillon recalled.

The crash remains under RCMP investigation. Dillon said they were told the vehicle may have been struck from behind. It spun, then rolled twice into a field before coming to a stop.

Once the vehicle was no longer moving, she got out. Dillon ran first to her husband, Joshua MacWhirter, who was slipping in and out of consciousness.

“I said, ‘You got to get out, there’s a fire in the back, you need to do your best to roll out of here,’” Dillon said. “It took him a while.”

The couple’s son, Malachi, was still inside.

Dillon moved to the back of the vehicle, where Malachi was pinned beneath debris. He couldn’t move as the fire was closing in.

“He was asking me for help,” Dillon recalled.

Malachi is non-verbal and lives with level three autism. Dillon said she understands him through the sounds he makes. She tried to pull her son out of the vehicle.

“I couldn’t get him out … there was nothing I could do,” Dillon said. “The flames were getting closer to him and he wanted my help.”

People nearby shouted for her to move away, warning her the vehicle could explode.

“I told them, ‘I’m not leaving my son. I won’t leave him.’”

She then soaked a pillow in nearby water and placed it behind him, trying to slow the heat. Then she lay on the ground, praying.

“I was praying and I asked God … please help my son.”

Moments later, someone ran toward the wreck – a young man Dillon had never seen before.

“He asked me, ‘Are you OK?’ And I said, ‘Get my son out of the van, can you get my son out, please?’”

He went straight to the vehicle and pulled Malachi free.

“You’re an angel. You’re a hero. You saved my son’s life,” Dillon said, addressing the man she is still trying to identify today.

“No one else was willing to come and help my son when I begged them … he didn’t hesitate.”

MacWhirter, who suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung, said he remains grateful to the stranger who stepped in when he could not.

“That guy … he saved my wife’s life and my son’s life,” he said. “In my eyes, he’s like a hero.”

Malachi was taken to hospital by STARS in Saskatoon before being transferred to Edmonton, Alta., where he is now in the pediatric intensive care unit. He suffered third-degree burns across his back, second-degree burns on his face, arm and torso, and broken legs that required rods to stabilize. Doctors are preparing for skin graft surgery.

“He’s just laying there kind of just sleeping somewhat,” Dillon said. “Sometimes he can open his eyes.”

The family is now staying at Ronald McDonald House in Edmonton as they prepare for what they expect will be a long recovery.

Dillon, a teacher, described her son as energetic and affectionate – a boy who loves music and routine.

“He loves to cuddle, very loving,” she said. “He’s a really determined boy. When he wants something, he doesn’t give up easily.”

MacWhirter said Malachi has always continued to grow in ways that surprise them.

Joshua MacWhirter and his 13-year-old son, Malachi. (Breanna Dillon/Submitted)

“He’s the kind of boy … when I think, ‘Oh, this is how Malachi is gonna be,’ and something happens and changes. His mind is always growing,” he said. “He’s just a beautiful young man … very, very persistent, very kind and loving.”

A GoFundMe launched by a family friend is helping support the family as they remain away from home during his treatment.

“If people want to help, they can help,” MacWhirter said. “But if they don’t, they’re not obligated.”

Instead, the family is asking for something simple: “We just pray people pray for our son.”

For Dillon, one moment continues to stand above all others – not the crash itself, but what came after.

“When I find out who you are, I want to meet you and I want to hug you,” she said, speaking of the man who suddenly appeared to save her son. “I want to thank you.”

“I would like to just spend some time with you. I know he must have his own traumas from what he saw, and I pray that he would get the help that he needs … to have some sort of counselling.”

As of now, no charges have been laid in connection with the incident.