An intrepid young girl rushed to her neighbor’s aid when she heard a desperate mom shouting for help after her 5-year-old son plummeted down a 20-foot deep well in their Massachusetts neighborhood.
Juliana Fischer, 11, was at her home when she heard her neighbor, Kathleen Freeman, screaming for her son and pleading for someone to help.
“I heard these screaming, like these screams, and someone saying, ‘Call 911,’” Juliana told Local 12.
The preteen didn’t waste a single moment asking questions and sprinted outside, following the sounds of Freeman’s shouts while she called the police.
Freeman’s son, Jack Buss, had fallen into the deep water well that had been concealed by a cover that slipped out of the way while the toddler was walking over it.
All the while, Jack told the outlet that he was looking — and shouting — for his “mama.”
“I heard a scream that I’ve never heard before from my son,” Freeman told the outlet.
The stunned toddler was able to stand at the bottom, surrounded by chunks of concrete and clutching a nearby pole.
Freeman, stuck above ground as she watched her son sob at the bottom of the well, tried to console him the best she could as Juliana slid to her side.
The 11-year-old quickly assessed the situation and grabbed a nearby ladder, carefully lowering it down into the well with her father’s help so Jack could climb out.
The toddler clambered his way up largely unscathed, save for a few minor scratches.
“He was really brave, and I’m so thankful for Juliana. It was a very good feeling when he got out of the well,” Freeman told the outlet.
Responding crews didn’t have much work cut out for them after Juliana’s tactful approach. They placed a heavy metal plate on top of the well with bricks just to make sure it wouldn’t slide off again, but assured the concerned mom they would eventually find a more permanent solution.
Jack was taken to a nearby hospital for an extra assessment.
Juliana, meanwhile, shrugged off her good deed.
“I don’t know. Anyone would have done the same thing,” she told the outlet.
Still, Freeman’s family is celebrating Juliana as a neighborhood hero.
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