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What would you do if you are five years old and alone with your mom and infant sister at home, and the only adult suddenly falls seriously ill? One little boy showed a remarkable presence of mind and incredible responsibility when his mother had a seizure in the bathroom, suddenly leaving him the man of the house.

Salvatore Cicalese, 5, lives in Arizona with his family. He shocked a neighbor one day when he suddenly showed up at her doorstep clutching his two-month-old little sister in his arms and asking for help.

Sal and his baby sister.

Source: ABC

The neighbor, Jessica Penoyer, opened the door to a terrified little boy babbling about somebody who had died. Penoyer told ABC:

“He’s standing there and he’s holding something and I thought it was a doll.”

Sal had wrapped his sister in a blanket, and made his way as fast as he could to the nearest house to get help.

At first, Penoyer thought Salvatore was saying his dog had died, but he promptly corrected her:

“No, my mom died in the shower. Can you take care of us?”

His mom, Kaitlyn, was taking a shower when she suddenly had a seizure and fallen down in the bathroom.

Unbeknownst to her terrified son, Kaitlyn was still alive, but barely.

And her son’s quick action probably saved her life.

Source: ABC

To get to Penoyer’s house, Little Sal had to drag a bar stool all the way to the garage door so he could climb up and flip the switch that opened it. He fell on his first attempt, but he made it on the second, the little boy proudly recalled.

As soon as he got the garage door open, he wrapped his baby sister in a blanket and ran to get help.

Penoyer immediately called 911, apprising the dispatcher of the situation:

“My neighbour’s son just came to my house and said that his mom was dead in the shower.”

The first responders happened to be firefighters who were able to perform CPR on Kaitlyn and get her to a hospital immediately.

“Honestly, he saved my life, because I was under the [tap] and if he wouldn’t have got help, I don’t know, I would have drowned.”

Kaitlyn raved about her son’s heroism in an ABC interview.

Source: ABC

For his bravery, the local fire brigade awarded Salvatore as an “honorary firefighter” for his quick thinking and prompt action in saving his mom’s life.

The little superhero.

Despite his heroism, Sal’s scare still haunts his dreams.

“Every day is a challenge for us. He asks me, probably, a billion times if I’m going to be OK.

“He’ll tell me, ‘are you going to have another seizure?’ ‘No, I’m okay.’ ‘Are you going to die today?’ ‘No, I’m not going to die today.'”

Sal has become more aware of how precious life is.

If more people could be just as heroic as Kaitlyn’s little boy, the world would be a much safe place.

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