Motorcade welcomes ‘tough cookie’ home
Young Kendrah survived horrific attack that killed three in her family
PRINCE ALBERT, SASK. The fiveyear-old girl gasped as car after car, drove by with horns blaring and confetti flying.
“Is that all for me?” young Kendrah asked.
She stood on a table to see. Her grandfather stood by her side and confirmed that it was.
“She saw the signs, she saw her name. She knew,” he recalls.
She had one word in response: “Wow.”
Kendrah spent 51 days recovering from injuries sustained in March in the triple homicide of her seven-year-old brother Bentlee and grandparents Sandra Henry and Denis Carrier. She was rushed to Prince Albert hospital in critical condition, and then spent time in Edmonton and Saskatoon hospitals. She underwent eight surgeries.
Finally, this past week, Kendrah was home at last.
She and her mother, Heather-lynn Sumners, arrived back in Prince Albert, where they were greeted by signs and balloons, family members and friends, police officers and first responders.
Around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, dozens of cars paraded down the street. A fire truck and ambulance led the way. The entire Prince Albert police shift that responded to the scene on March 28 was on hand.
Many of the signs featured the nickname given to Kendrah by the Edmonton hospital staff: One Tough Cookie.
“It was a complete surprise,” Sumners said, noting how grateful she is for the support she and her family have received. “I had no clue. It was amazing. I’m overwhelmed, completely.”
Kendrah “is such a fighter and she’s always been a fighter,” said Chrissy Halliday, a family friend who took part in the parade.
“I make sure I keep regular contact with them — let them know I was thinking about them, praying for them, sending them healing energy, making sure they know they have people on their side ... She’s always been a tough cookie and I want to make sure she knows we’re all rooting for her.”
Nathaniel Carrier — the biological father of Kendrah and Bentlee and the son of Sandra Henry and Denis Carrier — has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.
Wearing the custom medical ID badge made for her, Kendrah was all smiles upon her return home — running, playing, and saying hello to whoever she crossed paths with. First, she went straight to her twoyear-old brother Alex.
After the parade, some of the officers who were at the crime scene stopped to chat with Kendrah. When the five-year-old greeted them with a hug, it was clear they could barely contain their emotions. The crime scene “was really tough to see,” said Const. Michael Norrie, one of the first responders to the call. “She’s doing well ... Seeing her smile and happy feels so good.”
Knowing she’s home and recovering was an “overwhelming feeling,” he said.
“It’s a miracle that she’s alive and she’s doing well.”
Sumners said it’s a relief to finally be home after more than seven weeks.
“It was a long haul, but she had come a long way within the first two weeks. She was up and running by day 10. Day 51, we’re home.”
Sumners said she doesn’t know what will come next, only that together they’ll take things as they come.
“It’s going to be hard knowing that Bentlee’s not here anymore,” she said. “We have more appointments coming up. We will do our best mentally, physically and emotionally. We’re just going to take it day by day.”