Lincoln family grateful for good samaritan

A Lincoln family of five now has a bond forever with one good samaritan. 

The family’s SUV spun out on the ice and ended up in a ditch on I-80 in Des Moines. One lady stayed until the family was taken to the hospital. 

The Nicholson family was on their way to Minnesota for a funeral when they lost control of their vehicle. 

“When we started out, the roads were dry and then the roads became white and I just thought it was some snow,” Sara Nicholson, driver of the SUV, said. 

It wasn’t snow though. The roads had turn to complete ice. 

Just west of Des Moines, going eastbound on I-80, the family went into the ditch. 

The three children, ages 12, 10, and four-years old, all in the backseat. Only one of them wearing a seat belt. 

“My youngest daughter unbuckled herself, so I asked my son to get out of his seat to buckle her,” Nicholson said. 

When Nicholson was going to get off on the edit to check on her kids was when she lost control. 

When the family went into the ditch, multiple people called 911, but only one person went into the embankment to help. 

“The children were in pain, shaken and crying. I was able to calm them a little bit, let them know that people were coming,” Deb Mitchell, the woman who helped the Nicholson family, said. 

Mitchell assessed the situation and kept the family calm. 

Nicholson said she is so grateful Mitchell came down into the slippery, cold embankment. 

“She went above and beyond. There were certainly other people that stopped and called 911, but they all stayed up on the road, and honestly, that’s probably what I would have done too, and she just came down the hill to check on us and jumped right in,” Nicholson said. 

Thanks to Facebook, Mitchell and Nicholson were able to meet in Des Moines. 

“I will never forget it, it was a day that apparently I was supposed to be in one place that day,” Mitchell said. 

“It was just so nice to be able to thank her in person and give her a big hug. It was also nice to be able to process with somebody else who had been there and been through the same experience,” Nicholson said. 

All three children are back in Lincoln, and two of them are already at school. 

Nicholson’s husband is still at the hospital in Des Moines, but is expected to start rehab at Madonna soon. 

You can donate to their GoFundMe here:

https://www.gofundme.com/sjq4h-the-nicholson-family?u=21113756&fbclid=IwAR1UZCaj-Dsuzx5wM8Aeq4kLiGP8ljirj0g4pfnMWV8fACaPEuDQeoSDDWQ