SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Mother’s Day is just two days away, and one local mother-son duo is showcasing their bond through a shared passion in emergency medical services. Western Mass News spoke with the duo to hear how they’ll soon be saving lives together.

For twelve years now, Kristina Leighty has loaded up her truck, driven by the fast-paced nature of emergency responses. She climbed the ladder from the start, going from an EMT to a paramedic, and now working as an AMR paramedic supervisor, “I mean, I always wanted to get into the medical field. This was an opportunity and I looked into it and did it and fell in love with it and stuck to it.”

When she wasn’t busy working, she spent all of her time with her son Korey — growing up together. Korey worked in construction for a while, but soon realized it wasn’t what he loved, “right after graduating high school, I went into construction, did that for about six years, and then, you know, realized that I needed a change, needed something different, and I do not regret it at all,” Korey said.

Watching his mom’s work ethic for all those years inspired Korey to change course. He followed in his mom’s footsteps, while forging his own path through the earn while you learn program, allowing him to work full-time for AMR while studying to become an EMT.

Now in just ten days, he’ll graduate from his training program, one of the more memorable Mother’s Day gifts. The best part is, he gets to call his mom his colleague while working in the same building, “he is my everything. He is my first child and we pretty much grew up together. I had him very young. Um, so I love it. You know, he’ll be even closer to me now, um, working with me,” Kristina said.

So, the next time she loads up her ambulance to save a life, her son may just be joining her in the passenger sea, “I hope she’s proud of me. I hope I continue to make her proud,” Korey said.

“I love him very much, and there’s no limit in what you can do. And I’m always going to be your mom first. But I’m very proud of you,” Kristina said.”

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