Like most boys, Jacob Sizemore can’t wait to spend time with friends or head to the lake. When he and his mom, Julie, aren’t at the beach or traveling across country, Jacob is rummaging for games at yard sales while his mom looks for deals on items that can help her remodel their house in Mountain Home, Ark. 

Yet when his mom had a medical crisis about 18 months ago, Jacob behaved more like an adult than a little boy. At the time, Julie was recovering from a severe injury and accidentally took five times her prescribed dose of insulin. Jacob, who was 7, went into his mom’s room expecting her to be awake and instead found her unconscious. 

“She was having, like, a seizure,” Jacob says. He says he didn’t shake or touch her because he “didn’t want to mess with her in case there was something really bad happening with her.” 

He knew he needed to get help, but after some confusion about the address with 911, Jacob remembered OnStar. “I just grabbed the keys and ran right outside and got in the car.” Inside their Chevrolet HHR, Jacob pushed the red Emergency button. 

“The Advisor said they would get someone over right away,” Jacob says. “They asked me if she was diabetic, and she is.” 

Firefighter Shawn Lofton says Jacob likely saved his mom’s life. “I remember the call and remember the young boy being there. He seemed very intelligent and calm in his demeanor and was able to help us out a lot and tell us about her medical history. 

“Luckily, the station that responded to the call was only about four or five blocks from the house,” adds Lofton. “That, coupled with the boy’s quick call to OnStar, made a big difference in the outcome. Urgency is of the utmost importance on a call like hers. You don’t have a lot of time to waste.” 

Julie and Jacob have had a lot of experience with OnStar. Julie says she’s used OnStar Roadside Assistance* when she ran out of gas, to remotely unlock* her doors, for Hands-Free Calling,* and to report wrecks they see in their remote community. “I use OnStar like my cellphone so I can be hands free and so much safer. Plus,” she laughs, “it’s good to have since I’m the labor coach to a friend of mine due to deliver this fall.” 

They also use OnStar for directions* when looking for craft stores and when she and Jacob take road trips. “I wanted him to see how to use it, so I had him hit the button for directions and had him talk to the Advisor,” says Julie. “The Advisor told him in an emergency to push the red button. I think every child ought to be taught to talk to the mirror. When I get lost, he tells me, ‘Talk to the mirror, Mom.’”

Jacob’s quick thinking in the emergency was unexpected, but so was his arrival in Julie’s life. Years earlier, Julie’s older son and his friends asked her what she wanted for her 41st birthday. Jokingly, Julie told them she wanted another child. Not long afterward, one of the friends informed the Sizemores that her mother’s friend would be putting her newborn up for adoption. Julie and her husband, now deceased, decided they would adopt him. “Three months later, I had Jacob in my arms,” says Julie. “We never dreamed we’d have another baby.” 

Jacob likes the handiness of OnStar. He recalls being at a resale shop when someone was acting strangely and threatening to harm people. “My mom got the license plate, pushed the button to contact OnStar, and then the police came,” he says. “You can use OnStar on trips. You can use it at your house whenever the car is parked. You can just always use it.”