BUFFALO, N.Y. -- About 200 people came out to St. Thomas Aquinas Church on Saturday to say goodbye to 3-year-old Maksym Sugorovskiy.
Maksym was killed May 30 when he was struck by a car in Delaware Park. The 3-year-old along, with his 5-year-old sister Stephanie and their mother Mary, were hit when a car careened off Route 198 and onto Ring Road.
Stephanie was seriously injured, while their mom survived with minor injuries. For first time since the crash, Mary Sugorovskiy spoke public about that day and the last conversations she had with her son.
"Exactly one week ago today, our beautiful son Maksym, he woke up in the morning, he looked out the window, he looked at me and he said, 'Sure a beautiful day today,' " said Sugorovskiy.
She says Maksym also asked if they could cuddle for a while before they headed out to the park.
"Sometimes life just gets so rushed normally I would have told Maksym once we get to the game or when we get home, but instead I just forgot about those things somehow and dropped everything, went on the couch, grabbed his Muppets blanket and held him for as long as he needed me to," said Sugorovskiy.
The accident was the turning point in the decades-old debate about the speed and safety along Route 198, specifically alongside Delaware Park. One day after the accident, Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the speed on the expressway to be reduced from 50 mph to 30 mph.
At Saturday's funeral, there was no mention of the controversy surrounding the expressway and the changes following Maksym's death - only remembrance and celebration of a life gone much too soon.
"Although we will never have any of those moments ever again, there is no greater comfort in knowing we are going to see him once again in eternal life,"said Sugorovskiy.