WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT: A young mother’s life changed forever when a giraffe charged at her children, giving her seconds to protect them as best she could. When she woke in the hospital, she was given devastating news
A young mother made a desperate attempt to save her two children from a charging giraffe. Tragically, only one of her little ones would survive.
Nicole Panos was only 25 years old when, in October 2022, her life changed forever. While walking in Kuleni Game Park, in their home country of South Africa, what had been a relaxing morning in the sun quickly turned to terror.
A giraffe, whom Nicole believes had been trying to protect her young, rushed at the family at high speed. Knowing there was no way they could outrun the beast, Nicole had mere seconds to spare to save her own children, Kayden, then four, and one-year-old Kaia.
It comes after reports of a dad’s desperate phone call moments before explosion kills him and his daughters.
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Nicole opened up about the moment she realised the giraffe was coming straight for them. Nicole told the Sun: “Her head was down, she was coming straight at us, running really fast. I have always been taught to stand your ground with any animal charging at you to try to dominate the situation.
“But she was charging at my children; they couldn’t defend themselves. I had Kaia in my arms, and she couldn’t run away. My instinct to protect my children took over, and I screamed at Kayden to run.
“I felt a thump on my back, and I blacked out. I don’t remember being kicked by her. I had Kaia in my arms. I woke up and heard Kayden screaming. I was trying to keep my body on top of Kaia to keep her safe.”
It was then that Nicole saw the animal moving toward Kayden, who was curled up in the sand in a bid to shield himself. Unable to move, Nicole could do nothing to help her son, although she desperately wanted to.
Nicole then saw the giraffe move back towards her, before everything went black. She awoke briefly to see her own mother holding baby Kaia, with Kayden screaming beside them. At this point, she believed they’d both survived and slipped back into unconsciousness. The next time she awoke, Nicole was given the terrible news that baby Kaia had passed away.
Remembering how loved ones initially couldn’t bear to break the tragic news, Nicole recalled: “I kept asking for news about the children, and everyone kept telling me that Kayden was alright.
“I was flown to the hospital in Durban, and my parents drove to meet me there. I asked them, ‘What about Kaia?’ and they said they would tell me as soon as they knew anything when I was out of surgery, but I just knew in that moment that she was gone.
“I asked them to tell me the truth, and we all broke down. From that point, I have been in survival mode, and I probably will be for the rest of my life.”
While in the depths of unimaginable grief, Nicole and her husband Jason, who had been working overseas at the time of the tragedy, faced the impossible task of caring for little Kayden, who was left bereft at the loss of his younger sister.
Nicole also had to contend with a lengthy recovery process, having suffered severe injuries of her own. As well as being left paralysed from the waist down, the marine facilitator and student mentor sustained multiple fractured ribs plus damage to her internal organs.
After spending 23 days in the hospital, including 16 days in intensive care, Nicole went through months of rehab, all while dealing with the devastating loss of her daughter. Her son Kayden had also suffered skull fractures. A GoFundMe page set up by Nicole’s sister raised nearly $35,000 for their extensive medical treatment.
In April of this year, Nicole issued a poignant statement about her recovery via her Live Like Kaia Facebook page. Nicole wrote: “The reality is that life doesn’t stop living when your world stops spinning and time and space collapses as you once knew it, you cease to exist for a while, until the force of the orbit pulls you back in again and the only real other choice left is to collect the pieces we have left and keep moving at a pace that starts to make some kind of sense again, it won’t ever be the same, some things won’t ever be recoverd and brought back to form so we learn to connect ourselves to threads of what once was and learn how to carry it with us.
“Some days, recovery doesn’t look like blood, sweat and tears, or like pushing the boundaries of limits that keep peeking over the edge of a physical barrier within me. Some days, recovery looks like hearing the voices of my grandparents coming to check in on us.
“It looks like my sister moving work commitments to stay home and maintain with me, to laugh with me, to get what others don’t “get” with me, to hold what others don’t know how to hold with me.
“It looks like overhearing my sister’s fiancé tell her how much he loves and misses her over a phone call when he hasn’t even been away for longer than 10 minutes yet.
“It looks like my son climbing and crawling all over the show and lifting himself off the ground after getting hurt and coming to me for comfort, it is asking to play hand puppets for just “4 more minutes” while beat boxing the theme song of who knows what, as he’s making it up on the spot and tells yet another silly knock knock joke.
“It looks like my little brother popping in every few minutes to play a bird call, ponder on a few questions and then ponder some more on the answers, and then just to sit near us in silence and protect the space around us.”
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