Daniel Bradley with his sisters and dad James and mum Janice
Maghera woman Janice Bradley’s autistic son Daniel died on September 20, 2018 after running from the family car onto the busy Glenshane Pass.
The 35-year-old told the Daily Mail newspaper that her son, the second youngest of four children, had got out of her car after she had accidentally hit the unlock button on her key fob trying to silence the vehicle’s alarm from inside a service station.
She said that she had secured her son into his booster seat and locked her vehicle to go into the store to buy milk.
When the car alarm was triggered she pressed a button on her key fob to silence it, but tragically hit the wrong button allowing Daniel to run out onto the busy main road.
The child died instantly after being hit by an oncoming car.
“Daniel was buckled into his car seat, so I told him to stay there and gave him my phone so he could watch a lumberjack video,” Janice told the newspaper.
“I was standing at the fridges when I heard my car alarm going off. Fumbling for my key, I pressed the lock button to stop the noise.
“Moments later I heard a scuffle at the front of the shop. There was Daniel. I must have hit the button to unlock the car by accident.
“I called to him in my special singsong voice, trying to keep him calm, but he grabbed a troll glow stick from a display near the counter and bolted back out of the door as the shopkeeper shouted after him.”
Janice said she rushed to the front of the store and was met by a woman who said that a child had been knocked down.
“I pushed past her and ran across the forecourt,” she said.
“I could see a commotion out on the main road – cars were stopping and there was a woman crouching over a body on the tarmac, administering CPR.
“I screamed Daniel’s name. He was flat on his back, with one trainer on and the other at the side of the road.”
Paramedics arrived and Daniel was declared dead at the scene, killed instantly by a massive head injury. His parents, Janice and dad James, were able to say goodbye to their “angel” in the back of the ambulance.
The child was buried in his Peter Pan costume three days later after Requiem Mass at St Patrick’s Church in Glen.
Speaking at the funeral Fr Patrick Doherty described Daniel as a “special child” who was “a reminder to the world and to us of the essential values of the heart, of what is important in life – love, care, appreciation”.
Janice told the newspaper for months after her son’s death she blamed herself for the tragic accident.
“As we planned his funeral, I expected police to turn up at my door any moment and cart me off in handcuffs for being a terrible mother,” she said.
“Friends tried to soothe me, saying they often left their kids in the car when they popped into the shop. But I was inconsolable. If only I’d not hit the wrong button on my car key.
“For weeks after his death I barely left the house, spending hours sitting in his bedroom, sniffing his T-shirts to try to feel close to him.”
She said her son had a tendency to run when panicked and that she wanted to raise awareness around the condition to stop another family experiencing the heartache hers has endured.
“When Daniel got upset or panicked he had a tendency to bolt,” she said. “I rarely took him out without safety reins strapping his wrist to mine. I often worried that one day he’d get the better of me.
Daniel Bradley who tragically died after an accident in September 2018
Janice described Daniel, who was a pupil of Kilronan PS in Magherafelt, as “a loving little boy, with a smile that lit up the room”.
She said she was speaking to raise awareness of the challenges of parenting a child with autism and that she had finally forgiven herself for what happened.
“It took some time and some counselling,” she said. “But I’ve finally stopped blaming myself for Daniel’s death.
“I’m telling his story to raise awareness of how tough and lonely it can be to parent a child with autism. So many people just don’t understand their needs or why they might react differently.
“If telling Daniel’s story can help prevent tragedy for just one other family, it’s worth it.
“That’s his legacy.”
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