need to know
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On January 9, a 41-year-old Utah mother fell and died on the side of a highway while trying to help another driver.
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Now, her family is raising money to bring her body back to her home in North Carolina and honor her generous spirit
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One of her sons said: “She didn’t deserve to leave us like this.”
Earlier this month, a 41-year-old mother and U.S. Army veteran died after falling 70 feet from a bridge while trying to help someone stranded on the side of a Utah highway.
Her last words to her partner were “Love you.”
According to ABC affiliate KTVX, Jenna Guerra was driving through Weber Canyon at around 6 a.m. local time on Friday, January 9, when she saw a car crash on the side of the road at milepost 90, where a bridge spans the railroad tracks.
The mother of two from North Carolina recently opened a trucking company with her boyfriend, Joby Arnette, who was in her car.
They were traveling from Tennessee to Washington state when Guerra stopped when a patch of black ice caused the car in front of them to hit a concrete guardrail.
“She pulled over and she was going to make sure everyone was okay because it was a normal thing to do [for her],” Arnett told the media.
He was putting on his shoes so he could go out and help his girlfriend.
But “she turned around and said, ‘Love you.'” “I said, ‘I love you,'” Arnett recalled, according to the outlet.
Then, her act of kindness turned tragic: Guerra heard a third car on Interstate 84 trying to stop, and she jumped over a nearby barrier to avoid being hit, KTVX, FOX affiliate KSTU and CBS affiliate WNCN reported.
“I heard the tires squealing and I got out of the truck and started walking back and then she was gone,” Arnett told KTVX. “I didn’t see her anywhere.”
According to media reports, Guerra died after falling off the road. (The Utah Highway Patrol did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.)
Her two sons said they felt comfort knowing she was helping others.
“She didn’t deserve to leave us or die this way, but I’m glad she was doing something she loved; she loved helping people,” Guerra’s teenage son Lucas told WNCN.
Guerra’s family told the media that Guerra was a dental technician and served in the Army before being honorably discharged in 2011. They said her selflessness and generosity guided everything she did.
Jenna Rose Guerra/Facebook
Jenna Guerra
Now, loved ones are raising money to help bring her remains back to North Carolina. “We are asking for help to bring Jenna home to be with her children,” the GoFundMe organizers wrote.
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As Lucas remembers his mother, he also mourns the future they couldn’t share.
“I always wanted her to see what I would do and I know she was proud of me, [her other son Sebastian],” he told KTVX, “She can’t see us grow up and see all the things I have to do with my life, which is really hard. “
Read the original article on People
