It’s wonderful to hear about anyone saving a life, and especially rare and remarkable when a child somehow saves an adult.
But the circumstances around a life-saving event in a backyard pool this summer were downright extraordinary.
Ten-year-old twin brothers from Alabama Bridon and Christian Hassig found the strength to save their dad, Brad, from drowning.
Their father was doing “underwater breathing exercises,” a regular form of exercise for him, when things took a scary turn.
Christian was swimming underwater when he noticed that something was not normal. His dad was not okay. The boy told WBRC:
I could see he was shaking a bunch and then he just laid on his side. Since I had goggles on, I could see his face was turning very light blue. I told Bridon, “Dad’s not okay.”
Bridon and their 11-year-old friend, Sam Ebert, jumped in to help Christian: “I got one shoulder and he got the other. We just dragged him to the steps.”
At that point, the boys fortunately remembered a scene they’d seen in a movie. What they were able to do is really heroic.
Bridon successfully managed to perform CPR, even though he had no training, because he had seen a character perform CPR in classic kids’ sports movie, The Sandlot. Meanwhile Christian flagged down a driver who called 911.
The emergency forced young Bridon to reach deep for strength and knowledge he didn’t know he had. Both boys gave their utmost effort to help their father, a moving witness to the love of a father and his sons.
Brad woke up to hear his boys saying, “Daddy, Daddy. Come back, Daddy. You have to be okay.”
He credits God for giving the boys the strength and courage to save him. He told Today:
There’s no way, physically, they should have been able to pull a 185-pound man out of the water like that and to know and do what all of them did, perfectly as quickly (as they did). No lack of action, to run as fast as they did. It’s God’s hands all over it.
The story is an incredible example of two sons whose love for their father fueled them to think quickly and act with great maturity in a crisis. It’s amazing how love can inspire heroism, often when we least expect it.
And today we celebrate...