Sawyer Costa was a fierce friend, loved animals and was “the biggest firecracker” who shared a family passion for hockey.
That’s how her mother, Kim Costa, said she’ll remember the Laramie, Wyoming, 10-year-old who “was just full of life and afraid of nothing.”
Sawyer died Saturday after she was taken off life support a week after a devastating collision with a truck while selling lemonade with her best friend, Kim Costa told Cowboy State Daily on Monday.
Sawyer suffered a traumatic brain injury May 24 when she was hit by a truck while crossing a road near the local golf course, her mother said. She was taken to Children’s Hospital in Denver, but after a week with no sign of brain activity, she was taken off life support.
“I would definitely say we’re in shock right now,” Costa said. “I don’t know how we’re going to do without her, we’re just numb.”
Costa said she doesn’t know much about the accident, only that her daughter was on foot crossing a residential street when the truck hit her.
“I don’t know if there were cars parked on the side and she couldn’t see the truck, but she very religiously looked both ways usually,” she said. “But I don’t know if she did this time. I also don’t know if the truck was going too fast or what.”
Wyoming Highway Patrol Lt. Brock Weitzel said there is an active investigation into the incident, but that he couldn’t share any information until that’s been completed.
Family ‘Stunned’
The loss of Sawyer is the latest blow for the Costa family after her father, and Kim’s husband, Brett, was paralyzed from the rib cage down in a rollover crash 15 months ago.
Brett had also coached Sawyer before, and the whole family was active with the local club, the Outlaws.
It’s Sawyer’s spunk and positive attitude that defined her, Costa said.
“She was the biggest firecracker. Everybody loved her — and you had your hands full with her,” said her mother. “She played co-ed hockey, and even though the boys were a foot and a half taller, she was fearless.
“She could suplex her bigger brother, and he’s 13. She’s just something, man, so strong and not afraid of her brothers. She’ll take them all on.”
Costa said the reality of losing her daughter hasn’t set in yet, and one of the most difficult things she’s had to do in the days since Sawyer died was explain it to her siblings, especially her younger brothers, ages 7 and 3.
“We just explained that every brain injury is different,” she said. “Sometimes it’s something where you can’t talk, and sometimes it’s physical where you can’t move like you used to.
“And then sometimes your brain just never wakes up.”
Loved Hockey
Sawyer was “a great little hockey player, a leader and a friend,” said family friend and hockey club board member Chelsea Janzen. “You have to have a pretty thick skin and be unafraid, and Sawyer really exemplified that.”
That’s why the Laramie Amateur Hockey Club feels Sawyer’s loss so intensely, said President Kristine Ninnemann.
“It just knocks the wind out of you,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “It’s so sad, and for it to happen just almost a year after Brett’s accident, it’s just unfair.”
Sawyer not only loved playing on a co-ed team with boys, she also tried out and made an all-girls travel team called the Rocky Mountain Sparks, Ninnemann said.
The hockey club started a GoFundMe campaign for the Costa family, which was at about $26,000 as of Monday.
Kristine’s husband, Jim Ninnemann, coached Sawyer and her U10 team, and was emotional talking about the impact the small 10-year-old with a huge personality had on him and her teammates.
“She was smart, sweet, fearless and spunky — tenacious,” he said. “Always a joy and a pleasure to have around, a great kid.”
On the ice, Sawyer played forward “all over” and didn’t hesitate to get into the middle of the action.
“She never backed down,” Jim Ninnemann said. “She’d go in there with boys twice as tall as her, that was her thing. Just go after it. And she was a very good player, very good skills.”
Most of all, the coach said he’ll miss “her smile, her big smile and her big heart.”
Sawyer wore No. 6 playing for the Outlaws, and she will be the last, he said.
“We’ll retire the number this year for the program,” he said with a breaking voice.
‘Have An Ounce Of The Life That She Had’
The support of their extended hockey family feels like an extension of their own, first when her husband had his crash and again with Sawyer, Kim Costa said.
“The hockey community is something like you’ve never seen before,” she said. “You’re always together, and Sawyer actually made the two teams last year, and I never saw her happier.”
While the loss is crushing for her family and friends, Costa said she wants Sawyer’s legacy to be one of hope and happiness.
“She just had such joy for life, and it didn’t matter how bad things were, she was happy,” she said. “Because that’s who she is. Sawyer was so good in finding the positive in anything.
“People should just have an ounce of the love of life that she had, because life’s just too short not to, and you never know when it’s going to be gone.”
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
