MUSKEGON, Mich. —
A family of four was hit by a wrong-way driver in Muskegon. They say a couple of 'guardian angels' appeared on the roadside and comforted them.
Nate and Kathleen Ayers were heading home from a family Christmas party on New Year's Day at 1 a.m. with their three-year-old, Gideon, and 11-week-old, Gwen, safely buckled in the backseat.
They were driving east on Seaway when a truck hopped the median and hit their 2014 Nissan Murano head-on.
Their car turned the opposite direction in the crash and was totaled. While Nate and Kathleen suffered a few cuts from broken glass, their kids were thankfully uninjured.
"I didn't even have time to yell 'Kathleen, watch out,' or anything like that," Nate explained. "For something that went so fast, looking back, it felt like it lasted forever."
Police say there was no alcohol in the wrong-way driver's system, but they are still awaiting blood test results to see if he was under the influence.
"I didn't hear any crying, I didn't hear any screaming, so as a parent, you immediately go 'either everything's fine or nothing is fine and we need to find out," he said.
When they opened a back door to check on the kids, their daughter was somehow still asleep. Their toddler, unharmed, only had one question: "what happened?".
Nate describes this as the biggest relief of his life.
"We're really thankful that things played out the way they did, and all we lost was a car," he said.
Kathleen took the kids to the side of the road while Nate worked with police to answer questions about the crash. She says she turned around, and a couple "appeared" at the scene of the crash to comfort them.
"I just remember turning around and they were there," Kathleen said. "I just felt calm and no worry with them there."
A woman held the baby and rocked her while she fussed, while her husband wrapped them in a blanket.
"I could tell she was a mom," Kathleen said.
The couple stayed until family members arrived to pick the Ayers up and drive them home.
Later that day, they took to Facebook to find their mystery saviors.
"For something so wonderful in a bad time, I just needed to say thank you," Kathleen explained.
With the help of a Grand Haven community group, they found the couple — David Sumner and Catherine Kloska, who were driving to their Norton Shores home after a party nearby when they saw the crash.
They say an indescribable instinct caused them to pull over and help the family, which could stem from their own family of four daughters and two grandkids.
"It just seemed like the right thing to do," Sumner explained. "You can really see what could have happened. This could have been a really tragic story. I don't know how they made it out of that."
"That was the best end to the new year, knowing that they were all okay," he said.
The Ayers say it's heartwarming to find good people in their community, and they were immensely thankful for their support in one of the scariest moments of their lives.
"I'm like 'maybe in a few months we can all go out and get ice cream and see the kids progress in growing, you know,'" Kloska said. "They have a beautiful family."
Keely Lovern contributed to this story.
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