One Hawaii woman was forced to say a dreadful goodbye to her husband of 14 years, HawaiiNewsNow reports.
Alana Lavaka, 32, and her husband were riding in a pick-up truck when they collided with two men in a Toyota SUV.
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Lavaka was the lone survivor of the accident. Her husband, Hailame, died in an attempt to save her.
Lavaka recalls the final, harrowing moments after impact — her husband telling her, “Just go, just go, go now, go now.”
“I remember laying there but I remember my foot hurting as I tried to yank my husband to drag him out with me,” she said. “I took off his belt and I tried to drag him with me to go with me.”
A man came to her rescue and pulled her from the truck, but when he went back towards the vehicle to retrieve her husband, the truck went up in flames.
Not only did Lavaka lose her husband, but their five children, who range in age from four to twelve, lost their father.
Lupe Katoa, Hailame’s sister, said it’s sad the children will grow up not knowing “how wonderful … their father was”:
“I just hope that his children will grow up to become just like him, the loving, the God-fearing man that he was.”
And the children’s grandfather, James “Jimmy” Gomes, told the kids that he wishes he could trade places with his late son:
“I sat my grandkids down and said, ‘If papa could change places with your dad right now, I would change places with him in a second. Papa is old now. I would love your dad to be with you and mentor you and teach you and be with all the functions you’re gonna have.'”
Now that the dust has settled, Lavaka is healing from the injuries she suffered — a broken back, broken leg, broken ribs, and a broken sternum.
But worst of all, a broken heart:
“He was just a loving person and a man of God. He loved Heavenly Father and he loved me. He always wanted to help people,” Lavaka said. “That’s just how he was.”
The men in the SUV, who were speeding and bobbing through traffic near Kona International Airport, also died in the crash.