9-Year-Old Girl With Cerebral Palsy Hailed ‘Hero’ For Saving Brother From Drowning

A nine-year-old girl from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who has cerebral palsy, was hailed a “hero” by her city on Wednesday for helping save her one-year-old brother from drowning, despite being unable to walk or talk herself.

Halifax Mayor Mike Savage presented Lexie Comeau-Drisdelle with a certificate of bravery by Halifax Regional Council for her presence of mind that saved her little brother, Leeland, from drowning. Her efforts will also be commemorated at the City Hall later this week.

It was Lexie’s ninth birthday May 5 and her entire family was busy preparing for the big day when the incident occurred. As the family was caught up in getting ready for the party, the only one paying any attention to Leeland was the birthday girl, as she sat in her wheelchair in the kitchen.

“Running back and forth trying to make the food, and bring stuff outside and inside and [Leeland] was napping at the time,” Kelly Jackson, Lexie’s mother, said, CTV reported. “So then I thought OK, he's up, I'm going to run upstairs and get changed. Mom brought him downstairs for me, we didn’t communicate the door isn't locked.”

Although Leeland had never been able to unlock the patio door and go outside on his own before, he managed to achieve that on Lexie’s birthday. Lexie was the only one that saw Leeland walking unattended toward the pool.

Given her physical restrictions, she knew she could not get up from her wheelchair and rush after Leeland herself, so she did the only thing she could think of – she gathered all her might and started screaming at the top of her voice.

"I was upstairs changing for the party, her dad was picking up her older brother, and my mom was in the kitchen, when suddenly I just heard Lexie screaming. I panicked and immediately thought 'Oh no, she must have fallen off her chair,'" Jackson told CNN.

However, her initial instinct was not right. Lexie’s grandmother was closer to her and rushed to check what was wrong. That is when she realized Leeland was nowhere to be found.

"She's yelling and she's pointing at the door and I realize Leeland’s not with her,” said Nancy Comeau-Drisdelle, Lexie’s grandmother. “I took off outside, and I’m not seeing him. We had just refilled the pool, it was freezing cold, we had the tarp on top, and I ran. We didn't have this gate. I ran, he's right by the edge and I took him out.”

The family called up an emergency hotline number and followed the steps advised by the operator till the one-year-old coughed up some water and seemed to be stable. They then took him to a nearby hospital as a precautionary measure.

“I hugged her, I cried, and I still thank her every day,” said Lexie’s mother. “Because honestly, in that matter, two seconds makes a huge difference.”

Advocating for those with physical disabilities, Jackson said people have a tendency of equating them with others suffering from mental illnesses, which is not accurate.

"Some people think that because they have a disability, they are not able to do things, but if she could walk, she would have grabbed him and he would have never gone out there. Her disability is all physical. She is a very bright girl,” she said.

After the incident, the family have installed a fence and a locked door between their house and their backyard pool.