A Texas mother who died while saving her children from a house fire in February has been awarded a posthumous medal to honor her heroic deed.
Giovanna Cabrera, 31, has recently been awarded the Carnegie Medal by the Carnegie Hero Fund. The medal comes after Giovanna went into her burning home multiple times in the early morning hours of February 3 to save her children from the fire.
She was able to save her nine-year-old son and six-year-old daughter. Giovanna went back inside to save her one-year-old baby, Gabriel Peña, but both perished in the fire, as confirmed by Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Peña in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The medal is the highest honor given to civilians for their heroism. Individuals who receive the medal or their survivors will receive a financial grant from the organization for being recognized.
Mother, Infant Dies in Houston House Fire
Officers from the Houston Fire Department who responded to the blaze said they arrived at the scene and found "heavy fire conditions." Footage of the fire, shared by KHOU, showed the house engulfed in flames.
Photos of the house shared by Chief Peña and published by PEOPLE magazine showed the house to be almost completely charred after the fire was put out. Firefighters later found Giovanna's body with her son in her arms.
Giovanna's two surviving children were placed in the care of their father. Her sister, Giselle Bueno, has set up a GoFundMe to cover her funeral and help her two surviving children. As of Wednesday, the campaign has raised $47,000.
Who Else Has Been Awarded the Carnegie Medal?
In addition to Giovanna, 17 other individuals received the medal for their acts of heroism. This includes John Catania, an art teacher in New York City who rescued a woman from being assaulted in a subway car; Shannon Sade O'Neal, a healthcare worker who helped rescue a nine-year-old boy who had fallen through the ice covering a pond; and Marvin A. Pinckney, a retired army aviation operations specialist who saved an 82-year-old elderly with limited mobility and her 56-year-old caretaker from a house fire in Enterprise, Alabama.
