Chesterfield Township 6-year-old loses both parents to traffic crashes

CHESTERFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (FOX 2) - A 6-year-old boy is now an orphan after losing both of his parents in separate traffic crashes just a few years apart.

"I’m not sure about what he understands, but… what he has knowledge of is that his mom is no longer here," said the boy's relative, Alaina Harris. 

Ja’Marian Lane, who is about to graduate from kindergarten on Thursday, lost his mom on Friday, May 31. 

The mother, 30-year-old JaSonya Cousins, was killed in a head-on collision in Chesterfield Township – along Gratiot, between 21 and 22 Mile roads.

"It was painful because she had so much life and light ahead of her," Harris said.

Cousins was the passenger in the car; her friend was driving. The two were on the way to a podcast to promote a mentorship program she ran for women. Her friend lost control, swerving into oncoming traffic.

"They told us she died on the scene. She didn't make it," Cousins' younger sister, Jaychell Ball, said. "She was strong, independent, loving, caring. No matter what, she was always going to help anybody that needed help. Her door was always open to anybody."

The 6-year-old boy previously lost his father in 2020. He died in a motorcycle crash only a couple of months before he was going to marry Cousins, according to the family. While Lane won’t really remember his dad, it is now this family’s mission to keep both his parents' memories alive.

"I just remind him a lot of his mama. Everything she used to do, I just keep the same process going. I’m not trying to change nothing," Ball said. "Everything she had going, I want to keep going for him."

Right now, Lane is living with his dad’s sister. 

A GoFundMe has been set up to help with his mother's funeral services, held this weekend, and to provide Lane with anything he might need. The fundraiser can be found here.