10 Courageous Kids Who Saved Adults' Lives

Tom Phillips, 2011

Let’s head over to Wales for this next tale of kid heroism. When you grow up on a farm, you have to accept responsibility at a younger age than city kids do. Everybody needs to do their fair share to keep things going, after all. So when farmer Andrew Phillips of Abergavenny was savagely attacked by a 2,000-pound Limousin bull in June 2011, his 10-year-old son Tom was the only person who could save him. Thinking quickly, Tom jumped into the cab of his father’s tractor, started it up and drove it right at the marauding bull, pushing it away from his father’s body to buy him some time. Tom then ran to the house and got his mother, a nurse. Andrew had severe internal injuries, including ten broken ribs, but he survived thanks to his kid.

Kobe Sturgeon, 2011

Here’s a disturbing tale from Bellingham, Washington that shows just how dangerous letting renters into your home can be. Eleven-year-old Kobe Sturgeon lived with his single mother, who made ends meet by renting out a spare room in their house to local layabout Paul Newman (no relation to the actor). When Newman came home drunk at 7 in the morning and started yelling at Sturgeon’s mother about the mess in his room, things quickly escalated to violence. The brave kid stepped in to defend his mother, first smacking the lout with a wooden bookshelf to draw his attention. When Newman returned to try to break through a window to grab the terrified woman, Kobe grabbed his prized BB gun and took aim at the attacker, blasting his puffy face with BBs until he fled the scene and was later arrested.

Patrick Canney, 2012

Sometimes saving a life requires incredibly quick decision-making. When 12-year-old Patrick Canney was riding with his family down I-95 outside of Peabody, Mass in 2012, he noticed his father who was driving was starting to act a little funny. In fact, his father was suffering from an epileptic seizure. Even scarier, his 9-year-old sister with special needs was in the back seat, and the car was starting to swerve out of control. Thinking fast, Patrick unbuckled his seatbelt and moved into the passenger seat, carefully guiding the car onto the shoulder while removing his father’s foot from the accelerator. After safely parking the vehicle, he got his dad’s phone and called 911 for help. Pretty slick driving for a 12-year-old. I wonder if they’ll let him get his learner’s permit early.

Alexis Goggins, 2007

Girls can be heroes too, as this chilling story aptly demonstrates. During the cold Detroit winter of 2007, a woman named Selethia Parker took her 7-year-old daughter Alexis Goggins over to a friend’s house because their heat wasn’t working. On the way, she was ambushed by ex-boyfriend Calvin Tillie, who took them and the friend hostage. Tillie eventually panicked at a gas station and pulled his gun on Parker, shooting her twice. That’s when things turned crazy, as young Alexis boldly threw her body into the line of fire screaming, “Don’t shoot my mommy!” Tillie put six bullets into the little girl before panicking and trying to run. Parker, still alive thanks to her daughter’s brave act, managed to knock the gun out of his hands and hold him until police and an ambulance arrived. Alexis survived her injuries and was hailed as a hero.

Nathan Thomson, 2008

There are few things that can motivate a man to action faster than seeing his mother in danger. The bond between mother and son is a powerful thing indeed. Case in point: the brave act of 9-year-old Nathan Thomson of Fife, Scotland. One March night in 2008, a drunken dockworker named Hugh Clark broke into Nathan’s house and attacked his mother Ena with a knife. Her screams of terror brought young Nathan out of his room. Faced with the horrible sight of his mother under attack, he acted instinctively, jumping on the larger man’s back and trying to pull him off her. The brave boy was slashed multiple times in the face, but his intervention saved his mother’s life. Grotesquely, Clark only got four years in jail for the awful crime.

Luis Reteguin, 2010

It’s amazing how the human body can go to a place where pain isn’t even felt. Intense emotions can cause adrenaline to surge and enable us to do superhuman feats. For a great example, check out 11-year-old Chicago boy Luis Reteguin. Luis was woken up by strange noises in his North Side house one April morning. Investigating, he discovered a strange man reeking of alcohol attempting to attack his mother in her bed. Luis jumped to the rescue, punching the man repeatedly in the face and knocking off his glasses. The man grabbed Luis, dragged him in the bathroom and slashed at him with the knife, only to have Luis run into the kitchen and grab his own knife to fight him off. The police were called and the man fled.

Jack Foster, 2009

Sometimes for a kid to save a life they need to use whatever weapon is at hand, even if it’s a toy. When 7-year-old Jack Foster of Ararat, Australia woke up to bizarre noises in his home, he certainly didn’t expect to see a man attacking his father with a crowbar in their TV room. The burglar had broken in to steal Oxycontin that Foster’s father Christopher used for pain relief in his back. Jack tried to grab the phone to call police but the crazed drug addict knocked it out of his hand. Smartly, young Jack ran to get his dad’s cell phone, called the cops, and then re-entered the fray wielding a toy plastic sword, which he used to smack the scumbag around while yelling the police were on their way. The crook was soon arrested, but Jack’s father received 52 stitches and a day in the ICU.

Rita Lawlor, 2012

Here’s a light-hearted little tale to cleanse our palates from all this violence. One winter day in Sarasota, Florida, 7-year-old Rita Lawlor walked into the kitchen of her family’s home to find her mother unconscious and unresponsive on the floor. A million thoughts raced through little Rita’s head, but the first one to come to action was a little puzzling: she attempted to revive her mother by slapping her in the face with a piece of pizza. When that didn’t work, she went to plan B, which was calling 911. Paramedics arrived and restored her mother to consciousness, presumably also wiping the pizza grease off her face.