A 12-year-old girl is called a hero for saving a four-year-old boy from drowning in a manhole. After the Sunday mass, Shayna Sykes and her sons, Nolan and Rowan, joined the other children who were running around the lawn.
As the kids were racing, Sykes reminded her sons to stay where she could see them. A couple of moms laughed, saying that the kids would be fine as they were with a herd.
A few minutes later, Rowan fell into an open manhole that led into a sewer. Fortunately, 12-year-old Sadie Peterson saw the incident, having just noticed that the kids were curiously lifting the manhole cover, as per Today.
Saving the four-year-old
Sadie said that she saw the kids playing in front of the church and lifting the manhole cover. She yelled at them to get away from the hole and remembered Rowan trying to kick the cover down because he knew it was wrong. That was when Sadie saw Rowan fall into the sewer hole. Immediately, she rushed to help.
Leaning into the hole with half of her body, she reached out to Rowan, who had fallen four or five feet underground.
She said she eventually pulled him over and raised him to the point where his face wasn't underwater.
Sadie hung onto Rowan while his brother ran to his mom to get help. She remembered being scared as she felt Rowan slipping from her, as per KARE 11.
The panicked mom ran over to the area and admitted that she had braced for the worst. When she got to the manhole, she was relieved that Rowan's head was above the water but gasping. Minutes later, an adult named Tim Dubois lifted Rowan out of the manhole.
When Rowan was finally out, his mom said they just sat on the grass, covered with poop and waste. She just held Rowan and rocked him and cried.
The parents took Rowan to the hospital. The doctors said he had minor bruises and asked the parents to watch out for possible pneumonia from breathing in feces.
The manhole has been secured since.
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Heroism on her birthday
Stacy Peterson, Sadie's mom, praised her daughter for being alert and selfless. Peterson said that Sadie is in Girl Scouts and has always talked about helping people. They learned first aid and safety and got a badge for it but are grateful that they never actually get to use such skills.
More than ever, the mom is proud that Sadie's heroism happened on her 12th birthday.
Sykes is so grateful. She told Sadie that she was "exactly where she was supposed to be" and "exactly who God created her to be." She hugged Sadie while acknowledging that she had saved Rowan, telling her that Rowan would not be alive if Sadie were not watching him.
Sykes said her family could never repay Sadie for what she did. Still, she started a GoFundMe to add to Sadie's college fund for something unique that Sadie has always wanted or anything she wants to remind her that she is "absolutely amazing," KNSI Radio reports.
