Two-year-old ‘Superhero’ Saves Mom’s Life

Lia Vega is only 2, but her mother is calling her a superhero. The little girl made a phone call Thursday that saved her mother’s life.

Lia was at her grandmother’s house in Houston with her mother, Larissa Taylor, and her baby sister when Taylor blacked out and collapsed, according to Houston affiliate KTRK-TV. Lia picked up her mother’s phone and called her grandmother, Bobbie Gonzalez, for help.

“She said, ‘My mom fell down,’” Gonzalez told KTRK. “I said, ‘Let me talk to your mom.’ And she said, ‘She won’t wake up.’”

“I never taught her how to use the phone, so I have no idea how she picked it up. I assume just by watching us,” Taylor said.

Gonzalez called 911 and rushed home, and Taylor got to the hospital just in time. There, she got an unexpected diagnosis: diabetes. Taylor told KTRK she never knew she was diabetic.

Dr. Lee Green, a professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan, said Taylor might have simply missed the symptoms of the disease or confused them with something else. The classic symptoms of diabetes – dehydration, increased urination, fatigue and headache – can seem a lot like a simple virus or the flu.

“This is someone who might have been feeling lousy for a while,” Green said.

However minor the symptoms might seem, he added, they are worth a visit to the doctor’s office.

Taylor said her story can serve as a lesson to other mothers about teaching their children how to use the phone in an emergency, especially if they have medical problems.

Lia is getting lots of love and praise from her family for her quick thinking. “She’s been wearing a towel around the house, calling herself a superhero,” Taylor said. “Definitely, she’s my little superhero.”