Georgia man who was planning to propose watches in horror as bride-to-be is killed in horrifying seven-car crash
A Georgia man is fighting for his life following a horror seven-car pileup that killed his girlfriend, whose family heartbreakingly revealed he was planning to propose.
The tragedy unfolded on September 27 on the I-75 in Atlanta, where McKayla Harshaw, 24, lost her life when two trucks crashed into several cars and flipped the vehicle she was in.
Harshaw’s boyfriend Andrew Perez, who was driving the vehicle, survived the crash but was hospitalized with a fractured skull, broken neck and back, fractured ribs and a concussion.
As tributes poured in for the ‘beautiful and thriving’ young woman, Harshaw’s family said in a Facebook post that Perez’s brother told them he was planning to propose to McKayla soon.
McKayla Harshaw, 24, (left) tragically died in a horror seven car pileup on a highway in Atlanta, Georgia, which also left her boyfriend Andrew Perez fighting for his life in hospital
The crash unfolded on September 27 on Atlanta’s I-75 highway, when the collision of two trucks caused five other vehicles to be hit, flipping the vehicle Harshaw and Perez were in
Harshaw’s family said her untimely death came just four days before her 25th birthday, and said in a solemn post on social media that she will now ‘forever be 24.’
‘McKayla would have turned 25 this Monday,’ her mother Melissa Gunther said. ‘Now, we’re planning her funeral.’
Melissa said that her daughter didn’t have life insurance, and shared a GoFundMe to help the family pay for the funeral that at the time of writing exceeded $17,000.
The crash occurred after traffic was forced to divert around a vehicle, which led two trucks to collide as they slowed down, Georgia State Troopers said.
The trucks hit a van, which then hit another car, which in turn struck Perez’s Toyota Corolla that the couple were in, causing it to overturn.
Harshaw was the only fatality at the scene, which involved a total of seven vehicles including the two trucks.
Tributes poured in for McKayla, who was described by her family as a ‘beautiful, thriving young woman with her entire life ahead of her’
McKayla died just days before her birthday, which she shared with her grandmother, pictured mourning at their shared birthday days later in a heartbreaking Facebook post shared by her family
Horror images from the aftermath showed a number of vehicles strewn across the highway, which was closed down for several hours following the crash.
Harshaw’s mother said at 5:30pm that day, she received news that ‘no parent should ever have to endure.’
‘Two Georgia State Patrol cars came to our home to tell us the devastating news,’ she wrote on social media.
Days later on what would have been McKayla’s 25th birthday, she said in another post: ‘You should have been 25 today, but I realized this afternoon, that you will forever be 24.
‘We miss your smile and you spunky personality. We sang Happy Birthday for Grandmom tonight (since you both shared the same birthday.) Then we sang it a second time for you. We miss you so much. Happy 25th Birthday to my beautiful girl.’
Melissa accompanied the post with a heartbreaking image of McKayla’s grandmother weeping at her birthday as she was comforted by family members.
In the GoFundMe for her funeral, McKayla was described as a ‘beautiful, thriving young woman with her entire life ahead of her.’
