The first-grader knew instantly to call for help when her mom was having a bad seizure while also not leaving her little brother alone.
At times, children behave much more maturely than we expect them to be. Their sharp little minds recognize if something is wrong with their parents' mood and act accordingly. The internet has a lot of stories of kids who have significantly saved their parents' lives during dire situations. One such incident happened in Conover, North Carolina where a little girl rushed out to call for help when her mom collapsed at home due to a seizure. The first grader's timely, quick-witted act saved the mom's life and the city went on to honor the little one, per Good Morning America.
On January 10, Jennifer Hill, an Investigations Consultant at the Division of Child Development and Early Education and a mom of three was preparing dinner for her kids. That's when a devastating seizure impacted her which she knew only when her 6-year-old daughter, Quinn recalled that incident. "Quinn told me that I sat down in the chair and I looked up at the ceiling and started breathing weirdly. She said that I then fell out of the chair onto my left side and my fists were clenched and my body was convulsing. My eyes were open and she kept saying, ‘Mommy, Mommy,’ and I would not respond," Hill said.
Quinn and her little brother were terrified looking at their mom in a pathetic state with her eyes open and looking straight up. When Hill failed to respond to Quinn's call, the little girl immediately ran out of the house with her little brother to ask the neighbors for help. The 39-year-old mom said, "This is the first time that they've ever left our home without us. She even told us that she looked both ways before crossing the street. But they went to one neighbor's home and they were not home and after that, they went to the next home that they knew. And that neighbor was home and responded to our home with the children."
When the neighbors saw Hill's condition, they instantly alerted her husband Jason Hill, a police Lieutenant who promptly dispatched emergency services to their home. When Hill was taken to the Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory, North Carolina the doctors diagnosed her with a grand mal seizure. Grand Mal or Tonic-Clonic seizures are intense brain disorders that give a frightening experience to those who go through it. Experts suggest that people who had such an intense seizure must immediately get it checked to promptly begin medications and therapy, per John Hopkins Medicine. In Hill's case, this was the first time she ever experienced a seizure.
Ever since this horrifying incident, Hill has given her kids some instructions on how to handle such emergencies. Honoring Quinn's thoughtful act, Conover's Mayor Kyle J. Hayman announced February 5 as "Quinn Hill Day." The 6-year-old was also presented with a certificate of recognition during a city council ceremony. "This young lady had the wherewithal to recognize the emergency, take her younger brother by the hand, leave her home, and seek help from neighbors she knew and trusted," Hayman said. "At our city council meeting, I read a definition of the word 'heroic' as 'showing extreme courage; especially of actions courageously undertaken in desperation,' and I think young Quinn meets this definition."