MEDWAY — Amanda Leighton, 12, was awarded the Medal of Honor Lifesaving Award by the Girl Scouts of America at a ceremony July 18 at the Medway Middle School. Jane House of Dover-Foxcroft, president of the Abnaki Girl Scout Council, made the presentation.

On Nov. 6, 1992, the Leighton family was traveling north on I-95 when the family car struck a moose and the vehicle was thrown over an embankment. The roof of the car was torn off and Amanda’s parents, Sue and Ed Leighton, were unconscious in the front seat of the vehicle.

Amanda also was unconscious for a time. When she awoke, she saw her parents and didn’t know whether they were alive. She grabbed her 7-year-old brother, Nicholas, and climbed out of the car. She ran up the embankment to get help, and said later she was really scared when the cars just kept going by. Finally, one stopped. She knew she wasn’t supposed to talk to strangers, but her parents really needed help. Later, the policeman at the scene said that if she hadn’t stopped that vehicle when she did, her parents very likely would not have survived.

Rescue workers wanted Amanda to go to the hospital to have a cut lip tended, but Amanda wouldn’t leave her brother. She asked the police to take her to the home of a family friend and told them how to get there.

Even then, Amanda kept calm. She remembered that her mother was allergic to some medicines and reported that, and remembered the telephone numbers of family members who needed to know about the accident.

Amanda, a seventh-grade student at Medway Middle School, is a member of Girl Scout Troop 90 and has been a Scout for eight years.