Support pours in online for overwhelmed mom who called cops on herself for a break from four kids

When a Utah mother caring for four young children — including two who were diagnosed with diabetes — reached her breaking point earlier this year, she called 911 on herself just for some momentary support and relief.

A front-door camera at Kylie Grimes’ home captured footage of police responding to her home, which Grimes shared on TikTok two weeks later.

To her surprise, her moment of vulnerability as a caregiver was met with an outpouring of sympathy.

Approximately two weeks ago, around 9:45 at night, Grimes still hadn’t had a chance to serve her children dinner. Her husband was working late at his job, which was about a half hour from their home, and one of her youngest children was choking on soil from a houseplant.

She rushed to clean the child’s mouth and found he’d eaten not only soil but an insect repellent stick. Grimes immediately called the poison control center and, with the stress of caring for children with medical conditions heavy on her shoulders, she simply broke down.

“The poor guy on the other end of the phone was met with a mom who hadn’t slept in months, already drowning in the weight of a diabetic baby and another diagnosis hanging in the air. I kept saying over and over: ‘I can’t keep him alive. I can’t keep him alive,’” she wrote on her TikTok post.

She continued, saying that at that moment, “everything hit me at once.” Grimes called her husband to help calm her nerves, but he was still a half hour away.

“I just needed relief,” she told TODAY. “I needed to just have a minute and come back in and collect myself.”

To give herself that minute, she called the lifeline that everyone knows by heart — 911.

“I sat on the porch clutching my baby, sobbing. The first responder arrived and just tried to level with me until paramedics made it,” she wrote. “Kyle showed up. Suddenly I was surrounded by people kneeling down, letting me plead my case, letting me vent, cry, and lose my sanity for a moment.”

Grimes said that during her breakdown, she never considered suicide or hurting her own children. Instead, she “just wanted an out.”

“I wanted to sleep through the night. I wanted silence from the beeping monitors. I wanted to throw every needle and medical device at the wall,” she said. “I wanted to run away.”

About two weeks after the incident, Grimes decided to share her experience on TikTok in hopes it could help other weary caregivers be open about their She told TODAY that she was initially afraid to speak out about “caregiver burnout” because she anticipated sharp blowback from callous social media commenters.

“The reason why I didn’t post it right away is I was really nervous about the judgment, and I was really nervous about how people would not think I’m confident to take care of my kids,” Kylie says. “But from the day of [her son] Noble’s diagnosis, I looked at my husband and I said, ‘We have to help these parents that come after us. This cannot be in vain.'”

Rather than being chastised, she instead found a chorus of caregivers sharing their own stories and offering sympathy. Her video has more than 5 million views and more than 12,500 comments, most of which are supportive.

“Crying reading this, because I’m deep in it right now,” one user wrote. “And no one seems to hear me when I’m begging for help.”

Grimes replied directly, telling the beleaguered woman to “hang in there.”

Another poster, identifying themselves as an emergency services dispatcher, commended Grimes for making a hard call at a critical moment.

“Thank you for calling. I know that in the end you were still terrified and overwhelmed and a million other things all at once, but you reached out to get safe for that moment when you didn’t know if you could manage it for the next,” the commenter said. “That took huge courage and strength. I know you don’t know me but I want to tell you how proud I am of you. You did the scary thing and reached out for a lifeline in a moment of panic.”

While Grimes was commended by many for calling for help when she needed it, calling 911 should generally be reserved for situations requiring immediate first responder intervention — a crime in progress, someone suffering from a serious injury, or other similar situations.

“If you’re unsure if it’s an emergency, err on the side of caution and call,” April Heinze, vice president of 911 operations and standards, told TODAY.

She said for an issue like Grimes’, typically a person would want to call “a friend or family member who will listen and can address some of those feelings.” Heinze noted that, if no friends or family are immediately available, there are hotlines that people can call for parental support. The Parent Stress Line is meant to field calls from worn-out parents, and Lifeline provides emotional and mental health support.