Quick-thinking 3-year-old saves mom from seizure

A quick-thinking 3-year-old saved her mom from a seizure.

June 18, 2018, 4:42 PM

A 3-year-old Michigan girl did something not many little children know how to do – save a person’s life. And not just any person. Her mom.

Jessa Lavely tells ABC News she was out on a walk with her 3-year-old daughter, Savannah, and dog, Juno, in the family's Warren, Michigan neighborhood on Saturday evening when she had a seizure.

“We were about a block and a half from our house when I fell to the ground and started having a seizure,” Lavely tells ABC.

PHOTO: Jessa Lavely of Michigan is pictured with her three-year-old daughter, Savannah, in an undated handout photo.
Jessa Lavely of Michigan is pictured with her three-year-old daughter, Savannah, in an undated handout photo. Savannah found her way home to get her grandparents help when her mom collapsed and had a seizure on the sidewalk.
Courtesy Jessa Lavely

Immediately after, Savannah ran the block and a half back to her house and knocked on the door for her grandparents, as seen on surveillance video outside the family’s home.

Lavely's husband received an alert from the family's security system when his daughter ran up to the family's door and started knocking, without knowing what the emergency was.

The little girl led her grandparents to where her mother was - with Juno standing guard - and called for help.

PHOTO: Three year old Savannah of Michigan, pictured in an undated handout photo, is credited with saving her mother's life after she had a seizure.
Three year old Savannah of Michigan, pictured in an undated handout photo, is credited with saving her mother's life after she had a seizure.
Courtesy Jessa Lavely

This is not the first seizure that Lavely has suffered. In fact, she told ABC that her dog, Juno, has alerted her to oncoming seizures in the past. However, Juno isn’t a service dog. Jessa credits the lab boxer pit’s instinct.

Jessa says her and her husband never taught Savannah about where they live or how to get home.

“It was almost like it was instinct for her. She’s only 3,” Lavely said.