Sawyer... The Hero!

We were up visiting some friends in Washington for the weekend. Our friends’ house is beautiful, surrounded by trees and 3 acres of land. Last fall, a tree came down and landed on their roof, rolling down and landing on their septic tank, breaking the lid. The hole was about 6-8 ft. deep, with pipes on one side of the hole, about 4 ft down. On top of those pipes there were debris and broken pieces of the lid that broke from the tree.

Jay and I noticed the hole on Saturday sometime and it made me nervous. It had a tiny kiddy pool upside down covering the hole, but the bottom of that was broken too… but that kiddy pool made the hole less visible. I looked around their yard but couldn't find anything to cover it. I just thought that if Jay and I, or the older kids would make sure we were with Gwen at all times when she was outside it would be fine. And I hate to admit, but this city girl didn’t fully understand what a septic tank really was. I’m kicking myself that I didn’t make a bigger effort to do cover the hole. Lesson learned.

So Sunday afternoon we were having lunch, there was about 20 or more of us all together. They have a back deck that extends to the side of their house, over looking their front yard and that’s where most of the family were eating lunch, along with Gwen. Jay and I were inside with a few others and I was feeding Oscar. We heard a scream, immediately I knew it was Gwen. I looked up and I saw Brian running around the railing of the deck and Josh, jumping over and heading towards the front yard. My heart stopped. I ran down the stairs, out the front door. My first thought was that she fell off the deck… then I quickly realized it was the hole.

Now back up just a few seconds… Josh (Gwen’s uncle) was outside checking on Sawyer, wondering where he was, when he saw that Gwen and Sawyer were down by the basketball court and the hole, leading to the septic tank (which nobody saw them go down there), and of course Gwen was throwing rocks into this septic tank. Josh told Gwen to be careful and to get away from the hole. Gwen turned around and started walking up a 2ft gradual incline to the basketball court, when she slipped. Gwen yelled help to Sawyer as her feet slipped out from under her and she was sliding legs first, towards the hole on her stomach. Gwen slid all the way in and her little body was hanging on for dear life with just her little hands. Someone from the deck yelled to Sawyer to grab Gwen. Sawyer, who’s only 4, jumped to where Gwen was and grabbed her arms. While Sawyer was doing this, Josh & Brian were already running towards her, leaping over the deck. Josh got there first; grabbing both Gwen & Sawyer’s arms and Brian was able to pull Gwen out. Thankfully they were there within seconds.

There are so many little things leading up to the incident, and I know Heavenly Father was watching out for her. Remember when I mentioned there were pipes and debris on one side of the septic tank? Well, exactly where she fell is where there were no pipes and no debris. If she would have fallen, her little body would have fit right through. There are different sizes of septic tanks, ranging anywhere from 500 to 1,000 gallons of liquid sewage/sludge (obviously I didn’t know this before hand, we looked it up later). We have no idea how deep this tank was, but a typical tank would have been most definitely over her head. Also, if she would have fallen through, it might have been hard for an adult to fit through. Josh said, while he was running to her, he was planning on going down head first and having Brian hold his legs. Not to mention if she did fall in the septic tank, she would have breathed/swallowed who knows what, which is SO dangerous.

Sawyer is Gwen's little hero. What a brave little guy and he didn’t even hesitate to grab her arms. Josh is also our hero that day. Josh found out about this hole just hours before this incident. If he had not known about his hole, he wouldn’t have even thought twice about Gwen being down there throwing rocks in the “kiddy pool”. Also, Josh was inside just seconds before this happened. He was feeding Finn and then decided to check on Sawyer. As soon as he went onto the deck, he noticed that Sawyer & Gwen were down there and that’s when he told Gwen to get away from the hole. Brian also saw Gwen fall, along with Josh, and was willing and ready to do what ever it took to save her from harm. Thank you Sawyer, Josh & Brain.

We had a little miracle that day. There are so many “what ifs” and things that could have went terribly wrong. I get sick to my stomach just thinking about it and I didn’t even witness Gwen falling in or hanging there. Josh saw the whole thing and I can’t imagine what he was feeling in those 5 seconds when he jumped over the railing and ran down to get to her. We can’t thank him enough for being there for Gwen in SO many ways. What an Uncle!

Let’s just say because of this experience, I've been thanking my Heavenly Father everyday. I'm hugging her a bit tighter this week and taking in every little kiss.

P.S. Right after the incident we all hugged Sawyer and said he saved her life and that he was a hero. And he replied... "Yes! I saved her!". I can't tell you how much I love that boy! :)