Boy, 10, Steers Family Car to Safety

WASHINGTON —  The 1988 Ford Tempo hurtled down Interstate 95, careering from lane to lane at 85 miles an hour. Sherri Galves sat groggily behind the wheel, in a semiconscious diabetic haze, unable to keep control of the car.

So her 10-year-old son, Wesley Tanner II, took over.

“I took off my seat belt and I got over a little bit,” Wesley said. “And then I had to pull [on] the wheel.”

He said he remembers grabbing the wheel about four times in the 30-minute journey from Falls Church, Va., near Washington, to Stafford County, Va., where the car finally swung onto an exit, crashed into a stop sign and came to a rest on the grass.

The harrowing Dec. 21 trip down one of the nation’s most congested stretches of highway was not the first time Wesley had to come to the aid of his diabetic mother. He had called 911 several times when she would wake up in the middle of the night, paralyzed on one side. Some days during her pregnancy with his younger brother, he checked on her every half-hour to make sure she was still conscious. But last week’s ride was by far the most frightening rescue.

“It scared him,” said Galves, 33. “And it made him realize, ‘Oh my God, Mom could die at any time,’ and how close we came to not only me dying Sunday night but killing all of us and maybe some innocent person as well.”

She and her two sons, Wesley and Dakota Galves, 2, had just finished Sunday dinner at her mother’s house in Falls Church. Galves, 33, felt sick to her stomach and decided to take her children home to Woodbridge.

As soon as the family reached the Capital Beltway, Wesley said, the car began swerving and picking up speed. Galves said doctors told her later that her blood-sugar level was so low that it was surprising she was conscious at all.

During the journey, Wesley said he grabbed the wheel about four times, all the while trying to comfort his brother, who was crying in the back seat.

Galves said that from now on, she’ll be sure to check her blood-sugar level before she gets in her car and to eat something sugary if the level is low. She added that since she became pregnant with Dakota, there have been fewer warning signs when her blood-sugar level has dropped.