Lexi Shymanski climbed up 40ft creek to get help after car crash

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Angela Shymanski was driving Lexi, 5, and Peter, 10 weeks, home in June
She passed out at the wheel and veered off cliff down 40ft creek into a tree
Lexi awoke to see Angela unconscious with broken back, Peter crying
She climbed barefoot up cliff to hail down drivers, saved their lives
First driver to stop was a paramedic who knew that moving Angela would leave her paralyzed. Firefighters had to use climbing rope to get to them
Peter has recovered, Angela on the mend but had to stop work as swimming instructor and B&B owner. They have set up a GoFundMe page for support

Published: 00:14 EST, 2 August 2015 | Updated: 07:37 EST, 2 August 2015

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A five-year-old girl has been hailed a hero for hiking barefoot up a cliff to get help after her mother and baby brother were knocked out in a freak car crash that sent their SUV hurtling down a 40-foot embankment.

Angela Shymanski was driving her children from Calgary to their home in Prince George, British Columbia, when she unexpectedly passed out behind the wheel and veered off the cliff road into a tree in June.

Her daughter Lexi awoke with a few scratches to see her mother slumped unconscious and her brother crying. Angela had broken her back, little Peter had bleeding on the brain, and they could not be seen from the road near Jasper, Alberta, Canada.

Astonishing: Lexi (left) climbed barefoot up a 40ft creek after her mother Angela Shymanski (center left) passed out and veered off a cliff with 10-week-old brother Peter (center right) near Jasper, Alberta, Canada

Lexi managed to unfasten her five-strap car seat and climb up the steep and rocky embankment to flag down drivers.

If she hadn't gone to get help, Angela and Peter could have died or been left paralyzed for life. But, incredibly, they look set to make a full recovery.

Angela, a swimming instructor who is still recovering six weeks later, told Metro: 'It's crazy.

'I only can remember one or two times where she got out of her five-point harness previously. She somehow got out, adrenaline or whatever, and barefoot hiked up the embankment.

'It's crazy because the guy who came to see us in the hospital, he said the medics and the firemen needed ropes to get up and down that embankment, and she did it barefoot.

'It was only because she came up and flagged people down that anybody would have stopped.'