Parents are supposed to protect their children from danger no matter what the cost. However, sometimes parents aren’t present or capable of carrying out one of their most important responsibilities.
Sadly, when parents aren’t aware of a dangerous situation or are unable to protect their kids, tragedy can strike. However, when four brave young kids were faced with life and death situations they knew exactly what to do and managed to save the day all on their own.
Riley Braden
On May 16, 2009, Riley Braden, who was just five years old at the time, was spending the afternoon swimming at the Summerplace Inn pool in Destin, Florida. To stay cool in the warm weather, she and a neighbor had gone to the inn to go swimming.
Running Out of Time
While swimming in the shallow end, Riley noticed an 18-month-old little girl had wandered over to the pool steps. Riley turned away and then heard a splash. When she looked back, she saw the 18-month-old quickly sinking to the bottom of the pool. Riley quickly looked around for help, but the girl’s parents were lounging by the side of the pool and had no idea what happened.
5-Year-Old to The Rescue
Despite being so young, the kindergartner at Destin Elementary School regularly attended swimming lessons. So when she realized the little girl was in danger of drowning, she took it upon herself to save her. “There was no lifeguard, and the girl’s parents were lounging by the side of the pool with their clothes on,” Riley said via Parents.com.
A Strong Swimmer
Without wasting more time, Riley dove down about three feet and pulled the 1-year-old up to the surface. “When I brought her up, I shouted, ‘I’ve got the baby! I’ve got the baby!'” Riley said. Though the baby was shaken and coughing, she was alive thanks to Riley. “When I saw it, my skin had goose bumps on it. I was so, so proud of her but wouldn’t expect anything less since she is such a really strong swimmer,” Mary Weeks, Riley’s swim coach said.
Runs In The Family
“She’d been taking swimming lessons since she was 2, so she feels very confident in the water. Plus, her father and I are former search-and-rescue divers, so the idea of saving someone from drowning is very familiar to her,” Riley’s mom Jaime Braden said. When the community heard about her brave rescue, Riley was given the Girl Scouts Lifesaving Award and was also awarded the key to the city. Now, Riley wants to be a lifeguard when she gets older.
Angelica Riggins
In 2009, Kenneth Riggins woke up at about two in the morning in his Tulsa, Oklahoma home. Earlier that night, he and his 5-year-old daughter, Angelica, accidentally fell asleep on the couch. However, he suddenly woke up to the sound of his dogs barking.
The House Fire
The first thing he noticed upon waking up was that the house smelled of smoke. He immediately got up and looked around for the source of the smoke, which was in a small room next to a back bedroom. When Riggins opened the door to the room, fire and flames rushed toward him. Without thinking, he slammed the door shut, ran back to the living room, and woke Angelica up.
Recalling Sparkles’ Instructions
Instead of freaking out, however, Angelica managed to stay calm and remembered what she learned earlier that year at school during an assembly with Sparkles the Fire Safety Dog. Just like she was taught in the assembly, Angelica got down on the floor to get under the smoke and crawled out of the house. Once outside, she ran to a neighbor’s house and called 911.
Not Thinking Clearly
Shortly after, the fire department arrived and Angelica told them she thought her dad was still in the house. According to Riggins, he ran back inside the house fearing a friend’s 5-year-old who had been over that day was still inside somewhere. In all the confusion, he completely forgot that her mom had picked the girl up earlier that day.
A Full Recovery
When firefighters entered the home, they discovered Riggins unconscious in the living room. He had passed out from smoke inhalation and the house erupted in flames as he was carried out just in time. Thanks to Angelica’s ability to stay calm and get help, Riggins was rescued and was able to make a complete recovery.
Micah Knerl
After putting the TV on one afternoon, a stay-at-home mother from Tekamah, Nebraska planned to figure out what she would make for dinner while her three sons were occupied. However, while flipping through a cookbook, Linsey Knerl’s 4-year-old son, Micah, came running in.
Distracted by Chores
Micah told Knerl that the youngest of her three sons, Moses, needed help. Since she couldn’t hear 11-month-old Moses crying and didn’t hear any noise from 3-year-old Matthias, she didn’t think anything serious was wrong. She assumed Moses had just dropped his sippy cup and told Micah that she’d go check on him in a minute.
Demanding Mom’s Attention
Micah walked back into the living room. But within a few seconds, he came running back and told his mom that Moses needed her help. Refusing to take no for an answer, Micah dragged Knerl into the room. When she looked up, she saw Moses standing on the back of the couch. His head somehow got wrapped in the cord from the window blinds, and he was turning blue as he stood on his tiptoes.
Just In Time
“His face was a reddish purple, his eyes were bloodshot and he wasn’t breathing,” Knerl said. “I started screaming and crying and so did the kids.” Knerl quickly unwrapped the cord from around Moses’ neck and frantically called the pediatrician. Despite having ligature marks on his neck, Moses was fine thanks to his older brother.
Blinded to The Danger
If Micah hadn’t stayed so calm and made his mother stop and listen, baby Moses likely would have died. After the terrifying incident, Knerl’s husband removed the blinds from all 25 windows in their home. “On our farm, we have a whole different set of rules when it comes to safety,” Knerl said. “We had a wood-burning stove in the basement for a while. We have animals and an electric fence. The window blinds just weren’t on my radar, but this experience taught me a lot.”
Tregan Emmett
Despite being six months pregnant, one mom from Saratoga Springs, Utah, had her hands full with two young children. Since Jailyn Emmett’s husband, Tyson, was away at Army Reserve basic training hundreds of miles away, she was left to care for 5-year-old Tregan, and 15-month-old Lincoln all on her own.
A Racing Heart
One evening, Emmett noticed that her heart was racing after she got off the phone with her husband. Because she suffered from supraventricular tachycardia, a heart rhythm disorder where the heart beats faster than normal, Emmett didn’t panic. Instead, she tried to do the breathing exercises that usually helped slow her heart.
The 911 Call
This time, however, her heart wouldn’t slow. At that point, Emmett knew she was having a severe attack, so she called her parents. When they didn’t pick up, she called 911 but before anyone answered, she fell unconscious. Thankfully, however, Tregan saw his mom on the floor and grabbed the phone. “My mom just died,” the 5-year-old told the dispatcher.
Help Finally Arrives
The emergency dispatcher sent first responders to the home, however, the family had recently moved and the first responders were sent to their old address a few doors down from the new home. Thankfully, Tregan didn’t hang up on the dispatcher and followed her instructions to open the front door and turn the outside lights on and off until help arrived.
A Happy Ending
Thanks to Tregan, first responders were able to find the house and rushed his mom to the hospital. In all the commotion, however, Lincoln managed to run out of the house. When Tregan noticed his little brother was missing, he told police, who started searching for the little boy and found him playing in a neighbor’s backyard. Once at the hospital, Emmett’s condition was stabilized. A few months later, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy and then was able to undergo surgery to correct the arrhythmia. Without Tregan, however, none of that would have been possible.
4 Brave Kids Who Knew Exactly How to Act When Tragedy Struck is an article from: LifeDaily