FRANKFORT, Ill. (WLS) -- A young girl in Illinois is being called a hero for saving her mother and herself.
Alex Sheridan's mother went into a diabetic shock while behind the wheel of her car, so the 9-year-old sprang into action.
It happened a week ago when Alex and her mom, Jennifer, were driving home from a basketball game. When her mother went into a diabetic shock, Alex reacted fast and saved them both.
Living with diabetes for years, Jennifer Sheridan said she knows when her body needs insulin.
But she didn't know it last Friday when she and her daughter Alex planned to stop at for food close to their New Lenox home on the way back from her nephew's basketball game.
After getting lost Alex said her mother started driving erratically -- and she knew something was wrong with her.
Sheridan's sugar levels had dropped dramatically, so when Alex's father called to check on them, the crying and screaming girl told him what was happening.
When her mom swerved off the road near Laraway and Center in Frankfort, Alex quickly shut off the car and blocked the keys in the ignition. The car stopped before hitting a tree.
"I don't even remember passing our house, and we ended up about 35 minutes away from our house maybe a little less 25," Jennifer Sheridan said. "The next thing I knew I woke up in an ambulance."
Police and emergency crews called Alex a hero. As a result, Alex got a day off from school Friday and went shopping with her parents.
Recently Jennifer Sheridan had an insulin pump put in, so hopefully this will never happen again.
