A brave 9-year-old caught in a furious tornado with his parents sprinted more than a mile away after disaster struck to help save their lives — telling the injured couple: “please don’t die, I will be back.’”
Little Branson Baker and his parents were desperately trying to find shelter from the deadly tornadoes that swept through Oklahoma Saturday when they found themselves directly in a storm’s path.
Their car was lifted by the powerful winds and thrown into a patch of trees, crunching the pick-up truck into an unrecognizable mess and seriously injuring the front-row passengers.
Both Wayne and Lindy Baker suffered broken backs, necks and ribs. Wayne also broke his sternum and arm, as well as lost part of his finger, while Lindy’s jaw and right hand broke. She also suffered a punctured lung.
Somehow, their brave son crawled out of the mangled mess and ran more than a mile in the dark through downed power lines and debris to a neighbor’s house and brought help back to his family.
“The only way he found his way back was with lightning strikes that lit the road. He ran as fast as he could, as hard as he could, he made a mile in 10 minutes. That’s pretty impressive for a little kid,” Branson’s uncle, Johnny Baker, told CBS News.
“The last thing Branson told them was, ‘Mom, dad, please don’t die, I will be back.’”
Johnny Baker was on the phone with his brother’s family when the tragedy struck — forcing Johnny “to hear the unimaginable,” family friends state.
The phone went dead, leaving Johnny and his wife to search for the couple without much direction, ultimately finding them right as Branson’s help arrived at the scene.
“Branson is small, but he is so mighty, he is a hero. You think all the time that children are destined to do great things, but Branson has already started on his greatness,” an online fundraiser for the family reads.
Branson’s heroics didn’t end there, however — his baseball team held a fundraiser Monday night to help raise money for the family.
The pint-sized lionheart’s teammates each sported “Bakers Battle” stickers on their helmets for the duration of their game.
“With the Baker stickers put on the helmets, they helped give Branson a little motivation as well, he actually hit a home run last night,” Johnny Baker told the outlet.
Wayne and Lindy are still recovering in the trauma ICU, but Johnny Baker remains optimistic that the couple will make a full recovery.
“He had to become his parent’s superman and go do what he had to go do. That’s exactly what he said. He said, ‘I have to save my parents,’” Johnny Baker continued.
The Bakers were just one of many victims of the 15 tornadoes that ripped through the Sooner State on April 27.
At least five people were killed and dozens of others were injured.
