Anyone can be a hero

Sixteen-year-old Hunter Hasenjaeger and seventeen-year-old Collin Barry may only be teens but the two boys are heroes.

They acted with bravery and courage when they came upon a violent car crash.

The accident happened in Minooka, Illinois. It was around midnight when the two boys were leaving their friend’s house and happened upon the crash. They saw smoke and two people standing along the road and decided to investigate.

They found a serious 3-car accident.

A 27-year-old mother named Alexis Danley was gravely injured. She had been driving a Chrysler 300, one of the vehicles involved in the crash. The two people standing along the road called out that there was a baby in one of the cars.

“There’s a baby in the car!” the couple on the road told the boys.

Cries from the backseat

The baby could be heard crying in the backseat.

Hasenjaeger used the flashlight app on his phone to look into the car. The two teens found the mother in the driver’s seat and a 1-year-old in the back of the car. Barry pulled the baby from the wreckage.

“My heart was just racing, it was just crazy,” Hasenjaeger said to PEOPLE. “I just kept telling the mom that help was on the way and that her baby is okay.”

Anxiously waiting for an ambulance

Barry and the couple tended to the baby while Hasenjaeger did his best to comfort the mother. Her injuries were severe and the teen knew she likely would not survive.

“I never expected in my life that I would walk up and see the mom how she was,” Hasenjaeger says.

Tragedy

Unfortunately, while paramedics would arrive shortly after, the mother would eventually succumb to her injuries. Sadly, so did the unborn child she was carrying at the time. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, two lives were lost.

Charged for the accident

Another driver, 23-year-old Jacob Kaminski, was also taken to hospital for his injuries. He was charged with several offenses related to the crash, including driving under the influence.

Two teen heroes

Naturally, it was an upsetting experience for the two teen boys. To be that close to tragedy can be traumatic for anyone. To see a young woman and her unborn child’s life snatched away is a horrendous thing to witness. The boys have been trying to deal with it as best they can.

“I took Collin home,” Hasenjaeger says, “then I went home and just cried to my mom. I have never seen anything like that in my life.”

Coping with tragedy

“It’s just depressing and sad,” he continues. “I brought [Danley’s] family over food and brought the baby a little teddy bear. That helped me cope with it.”

The teens said they hope everyone will keep the young mother’s family in their prayers.

“Her mom is really upset. They just thanked me from the bottom of their heart and said that I’m a hero. But I just don’t think that I’m a hero—I just did what anyone should have done.”