9-Year-Old Dies After Falling Off Bike in 'Freak Accident' on Her Birthday: It's a 'Nightmare'

Photo: Facebook

A Kentucky mother is mourning the death of her 9-year-old daughter, who fatally fell off her bike in a “freak accident” while celebrating her birthday on Tuesday.

Charlene Sipes died after falling off the bike that evening, a spokesperson for the LaRue County coroner tells PEOPLE. Police said Sipes hit a curb and wrecked her bike near her family’s Hodgenville home, with the handlebar lever severing an artery in the girl’s neck,according to WLKY.

“This isn’t supposed to be real. It’s supposed to be a dream. I’m going to wake up and it’s all a nightmare,” Sipes’ mother, Tiffany Fischer,wrote in a Facebook poston Wednesday.

Sipes was riding along a rural road in front of her home that night,WDRB reported. Fischer found her daughter and carried the ailing little girl about 200 feet back to their home.

A visitation service is scheduled for Friday evening, according to the girl’s obituary. Fischer wrote in a Facebook post that Friday “will be the hardest day of my life.”

The LaRue County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.

AGoFundMe page set upto support Sipes’ family has raised more than $6,500, far surpassing its $2,000 goal.

Counselors were available for students, staff and family at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School in the wake of the death.

School officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.

source: people.com