“Everything Went White” – Perth Mum Recounts Losing Her 6yo Son in Tragic Car Accident

On Friday afternoon, a member of the Mum Central community lost her son, Jackson. He was six years old. Jackson loved chicken wrap Happy Meals, Lego Ninjago, Dr Seuss, and mostly, his little sisters – three-year-old Everley and one-year-old Rosie.

Jackson died on impact in a horrific car accident in Rockingham, Western Australia. With permission from Jackson’s mum, Klara – one of Mum Central’s writers – we wanted to share her beautiful tribute to her son and the devastating story of losing him.

Our hearts break for Klara, her husband Chris, and Jackson’s sisters, Everley and Rosie. From the entire Mum Central community, our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Klara shared the heartbreaking news of her 6-year-old son’s death on her Facebook page, detailing the lead-up to when “everything went white” and losing the “most awesome, fun, hilarious, smart, sweet kid”.

As Klara writes,

Jackson James – 18/9/2015-10/6/2022

Yesterday I was so happy.

Chris was heading home from work early, I’d had an amazing day with Rosie, and I was picking up Jackson from school. He bounded up to me, asked me to take his bag, then showed me an x-men mask he’d made. He had written the word “brave” on it.

We got in the car and headed towards pre-kindy to pick up Everley. I literally thought “what a great day”. I was thrilled that in less than an hour we’d all be home together for the weekend.

And everything went white.

I was so confused until I realized we’d just been hit really hard and all the airbags had deployed around me. We were pushed into the traffic and got hit one or two more times which spun the car and then we finally stopped.

My wrist was sore but I was okay, and I thought, if I’m okay it wasn’t that bad.

I called out “everyone okay???” Rosie started screaming. Jackson was quiet and I was honestly so confused as to why he didn’t answer until I saw him.

We’ve been told he died on impact.

Driver suffered a medical episode

It is believed that a 64-year-old driver who hit Klara from behind experienced a medical episode. The driver rear-ended the family’s black Kia, slamming them into the back of a TransPerth bus, forcing their car into a further collision with other vehicles.

According to Premier Mark McGowan, the ambulance arrived at the scene within four minutes of the emergency. Jackson was airlifted to Perth Children’s Hospital where Klara was able to hold her son’s hand for the last time. Sadly though, after 28 agonising hours, Jackson’s parents decided to turn his life support off.

As Klara writes,

Chris and I can’t wrap our heads around how everything has just stopped. His love of video games- Minecraft and Lego Ninjago.

His keenness for reading- he loved reading Dr Seuss books to us.

His joyful little friendships.

His great love for his sisters.

Pokémon. Sonic. Nic Naitanui. Lego. His Paw Patrol onesie. Chicken wrap happy meals with frozen coke.

His special relationships with each of his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Sneaking into our bed at night.

He was always the best in our family at guessing the cakes on Is It Cake.

He had just won some uno cards at school and was loving learning the game and teaching Everley so he would always have someone to play with him.

And he was really excited for the new Bluey episodes starting this week

We will never get any of it back and we are gutted. Rosie won’t even remember the brother who knew how to make her laugh long before anyone else could, who carried her into his class in the mornings to cuddle with his friends, who delighted in every little thing she did.

Everley has lost her best friend and wild play mate.

We have lost the most awesome, fun, hilarious, smart, sweet kid.

We are devastated beyond words. Jackson, we love you so so much. We are so sorry you couldn’t stay longer with us “