Safety consultant shares her daughter’s story

By Joan Janzen

Students from grades 7 to 12, staff, parents and grandparents gathered at the Eaton School gym on Wednesday afternoon, April 17th, to hear what Sandra LaRose had to say. Sandra is Canada’s Youth Rail-Safe Driving Consultant with Operation Lifesaver (OL). This is not just a job title for Sandra; it’s also very personal. She visits as many schools as she can, sharing the tragic story of her daughter’s death.

Like the organization she represents, Sandra is dedicated to preventing collisions at railway crossings and instructs students, family and friends about train safety. She began her presentation with a power point about her daughter Kailynn’s short life.

Safety consultant, Sandra LaRose shared the tragic story of her daughter’s death at a railroad crossing in 2019. Photo by Joan Janzen

“I am sharing her story because she can’t,” Sandra said. Her passion for speaking to students and communities began after her daughter was hit by a train in Weyburn at a railway crossing. Her daughter underwent surgery but died the day after her 17th birthday.

“If I could talk to every high school student, I would,” she said. She has spoken at schools in Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. She had given talks at both Rosetown and Kindersley schools before arriving at Eatonia. “As of today, I’ve spoken to 18,000 students,” she said.

Sandra lives in a small community southeast of Regina and has shared her personal testimony since 2019. Her reward is seeing all the students she speaks to eventually graduate from high school because that’s something her daughter didn’t get to do.

She helped her audience visualize Kailynn as a typical teenage girl. Her message caused her listeners to consider the wide-spreading impact of the loss of one life and all the missing milestones along the way. A photo of her daughter Kailynn holding a coffee cup with the inscription “I’m kind of a big deal” spoke volumes.

Not only does her message cause her audience to become more informed and aware of safety, but it has proven therapeutic for Sandra as well. She claimed it is more rewarding and helpful to see and hear the reaction of young students, than it would be to pay to see a psychologist. Her message regarding choices, distracted driving and safety resonates with everyone she speaks to, and her audience in Eatonia was no exception.

If you check out her Facebook page, she describes her goal as “facing grief head-on and turning it into a passion for saving lives”. While working at a full-time occupation, Sandra also makes time to pursue this passion of saving lives.

Her school visits are completed for this year, but in June, she will be speaking at a corporate event in Edmonton. “It will be a bit of a stretch speaking to adults,” Sandra said. But whether she’s speaking to adults or high school students, she continues to bravely share her sad story to help prevent others from having to experience the loss of a life.