A woman who, along with her one-month-old baby, was severely injured in a car crash northeast of St. Thomas, Ont., has now died.
Elgin OPP confirm that Jessie Reimer, 28, of Brownsville, died on Wednesday, Oct. 6. According to an online fundraiser for the family, she died on her 28th birthday.
Reimer and her one-month-old baby Aria were in an SUV travelling westbound when police say it collided with the back of a grain truck on Sept. 30.
Elgin County OPP were called to the scene of a collision on Lyons Line in Malahide Township around 6:40 p.m.
Darren Chandler, Reimer’s brother, said she and Aria were transported to hospital in serious condition.
Aria suffered cerebral contusions but has since been released and is at home recovering with family.
“She is doing really well,” Chandler said of his niece.
However, Chandler told Global News on Wednesday that the family learned the day before that Reimer “won’t be recovering from injuries” and that she would be taken off life support.
Reimer was wife to husband Josh Reimer and mother to three daughters all under the age of three, Emma, Olivia and Aria.
“From the time she was a little kid, she was already taking care of me. She was born to be a mom. The only thing she wanted in this whole world was for her girls to have a normal life and a mom,” Chandler said.
“She took such good care of her whole family in every way, and at every opportunity, and she was just holding everything together, and I don’t think any of us really appreciate the extent of how much she did for us until she was not there.”
A GoFundMe was set up to help the family during Jessie and Aria’s recovery, but the focus has shifted to making sure her husband and daughters have everything they need long-term.
“He won’t be able to work any time soon and they will need to get set up with their new life now that things are so different,” Chandler said.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation by Elgin Country OPP.