12-Year Old With Down Syndrome, Who Saved Little Sister From Drowning, Called ‘A Hero’

The incredible story of how a 12-year-old girl with Down Syndrome saved her little sister from drowning and is now being called “a hero,” will warm your heart.

According to mom Tomarra Richardson, her disabled 12-year-old daughter, Carin, saved her 3-year-old sister, Jac’Lynn, from drowning in the family pool with her quick thinking. Speaking with Yahoo Parenting, the mother says she hopes their story shows how even someone with a disability can do great things, including saving a life.

Richardson says the family pool has been there for 16-years and assured they have never had a scare such as the one in which the toddler almost lost her life. However, in a split second all that changed, says the Michigan woman.

On July 23, the youngest child sneaked outside and got in the pool without anyone noticing. Richardson says the toddler tried to get to her swim tube, “but went through to the bottom” of the pool and began drowning. The girl had followed big sister, Carin, who suffers from Down Syndrome, after the family was done enjoying the water, Tomarra told ABC 12.

“Without panic or fear (Carin) grabbed her goggles, got in the water, and pulled her sister out of the pool and into the house.”

As soon as the mother saw what had happened, she helped her youngest child to cough up some of the water she had swallowed, while another daughter, Krystal Bishop, 12, called 911.

“(Carin) ‘was our hero — she saved her sister’s life.'” the grateful woman said, adding that, as parents, they have always been proud of their special daughter, Carin, “and words cannot express my gratitude to her for quickly moving to save her sister.”

The fact that Carin has Down Syndrome makes her life-saving actions even more amazing and her mother wants to make sure people realize that she is aware of an emergency.

“…people with Down’s, I mean, they’re not always the fastest reactors. (But]) Carin definitely reacted really fast. I mean, she wasn’t really scared at all.”

However, when Tomarra came home alone, after leaving Jac’Lynn in the hospital, where she was kept for observation, the 12-year-old became concerned, the mom said.

“She was very worried when I came home from the hospital without Jac’Lynn and quickly came to me and said, ‘Mom, where is Jac?’ At that point I explained to her that her sister was doing really good, but the doctors wanted to keep an eye on her.”

Tomarra couldn’t be more proud of her 12-year-old daughter Carin, who even with the limitations of Down Syndrome sprang into action and didn’t hesitate to save her sister. Since the incident, the family has installed locks on the pool and an alarm system.

[Image via WJRT]