‘I can never get my baby back’: Mom survives wrong-way crash that killed her unborn baby
By Hannah Hilyard
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MILWAUKEE (WISN) — It’s a brutal story of survival.
A wrong-way driver slammed head-on into a Milwaukee mom as she drove home from her third shift job at Amazon last October.
The victim is Jae Morgan, 33. For the first time, she is talking about the devastating crash.
“I’m just curious why you wanted to come forward and share your story?” WISN 12 News’ Hannah Hilyard asked Morgan.
“I really would like to meet the officers that saved my life,” she replied.
Morgan was on her way home Oct. 26 when prosecutors said Jorge Alvarez Mathizuma took a downtown exit ramp to enter Interstate 43 on Plankinton Avenue heading in the wrong direction. A criminal complaint said his blood alcohol level was twice the legal driving limit.
Moments later, it said he slammed into Morgan’s car.
“I just remember lights,” she recalled. “And then I just remember them yelling at me: ‘You have to get out!'”
Body camera footage captured Milwaukee County deputies pulling Morgan from her fiery car.
“I remember being in the ambulance, just like yelling at them like, ‘I’m pregnant! I’m pregnant! My baby!'” she said.
Her biggest priority: her unborn baby boy. Morgan was 22-weeks pregnant. Tragically, the crash killed her unborn son. She named him Tyme.
“I named him Tyme because time is something very precious. It’s the most valuable thing that we have. And it’s the only thing we can’t get back,” she said.
Morgan, who has two older children at home, spent the next month in the hospital recovering from serious injuries, including broken bones and burns. She has progressed from using a wheelchair to a walker and is now on a mission to meet the deputies who saved her life.
“I would thank them,” Morgan said. “I would thank them for everything that they did that night, jumping into action, saving my life for my children.”
She also expressed gratitude toward her supportive family, the medical staff, and her children’s school, Cumberland Elementary, for all their help in the days, weeks and months following the crash.
Morgan said she had to move since the crash and hasn’t been able to work. She’s started an online fundraiser to help in her recovery.
She’s also said she has forgiven Alvarez Mathizuma, who remains in custody.
“I was angry at first. And then, I had to think about my kids, my children who are still here, and I still have to get better for them,” she said. “I had forgiven him, probably like two days after all of this had happened for myself, so I wouldn’t dwell in that anger and rage. And doing that helped lift a lot of my anger off.”
Tyme’s due date was Feb. 22, the same day as Morgan’s late father. She celebrated both on Sunday.
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