ABC Features 9-year-old Hero: She Saved Her Mother and Herself

New Lenox's 9-year-old Alex Sheridan today is being called a hero. After her mother went into a diabetic coma a week ago while driving home from a basketball game in Lockport, the third-grader from Haines Elementary School turned off the ignition and stopped the car.

While Jennifer has been a diabetic since the age of 5, this is the first time that a drop in blood sugar put her and Alex in jeopardy. It was about 8 p.m. when the two were leaving in the family's Volkswagen Beetle. Then Jennifer lost all reference to her surroundings. "I was out of it." She was driving erratically and traveling at a rate of speed that got up to 70 mph at one point on secondary roads in the pitch black.

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Friday ABC 7 News featured Alex and her mother, Jennifer Sheridan, on a shopping trip to Chicago's American Girl store, where the Brownie from Troop #107 picked out a new doll. According to the ABC 7 News story, the doll was a gift for Alex for her bravery and fast-action under pressure. Check out the ABC 7 News video here. 

Alex's story was also featured Friday night on 5 NBC News.  

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