A 3-year-old saved her mom by FaceTiming her grandparents nearly 700 miles away when she collapsed, then climbing onto a chair to reach the deadbolt and let the paramedics in.
Noemi “Emi” Vatavuk was the only other person in the apartment in Rusk, Texas, when her mother, Aidan Wilkie, had a grand mal seizure.
Emi did what her family had taught her, and called her grandparents in Georgia on FaceTime.
Her grandmother, Ryan McLeod, stayed on the video call with her while her grandfather rang 911 and relayed everything the 3-year-old was telling him.
Aidan remembers almost nothing about the seizure itself, except for one thing.
“The only thing I do remember from everything was the fact that she was rubbing my hair,” Aidan said. “I could hear briefly, ‘Mommy, it’s gonna be okay.’”
With help on the way, Emi had one more job to do, because the front door was locked and the paramedics were going to need it open.
On the 911 recording her grandfather can be heard telling the dispatcher that the little girl is standing on a chair, reaching for the deadbolt.
“Oh my goodness. She’s doing so good,” the dispatcher says.
Emi got it open, then guided the responders through to her mother, and paramedic Caleb Ridgeway and EMT Tim Spurgeon took over from there.
On Sept. 8, UT Health East Texas EMS honored her with a certificate of bravery, an EMS challenge coin, a stethoscope and a teddy bear, presented by chief executive John Smith and medical director Yagnesh Desai.
Somewhere in the middle of the 911 recording, Emi has a question of her own.
“I helped mommy?”
“Yes, you did,” her family told her. “You did a huge help for mommy.”
