“Superhero” Kid Saves Mom

Boy tells 911 operator mom can't talk because "she's having a seizure, duh!"

A 5-year-old used a cell phone and a bit of sass to save his mother from a life-threatening seizure.

Kindergartner Tyler Swass was sitting down to watch TV with his mother Amanda and baby sister on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day when his mother started seizing.

Amanda suffers from occasional seizure spells and has a stimulator in her chest to help break the episodes.

Despite being generally "freaked out," the Forks Township, Pa. boy sprang into action. He went into his mother's pocket, grabbed her cell phone and dialed 911.

"It was just in my head, it just came to me," Tyler said. Tyler and his family maintain that they never taught the boy the emergency number.

On the phone with the 911 operator, Tyler remained cool and collected.

"I told them my mom had a seizure," he said.

And when the operator asked if he could talk to Amanda, Tyler said he replied: "She couldn't, because she had a seizure, duh!"

Since the call came in from a cell phone, operators had to find out where the family lived. Tyler remembered his street name, but didn't know the house number.

But luckily, family friend and volunteer firefighter Matt Mowery was listening in on the scanners.

"When I got there, I walked in the door and go 'T-Man, what did you do?' and he looks at me and he goes 'I called 911, my mom needed it.'"

When Amanda woke up in the hospital, she immediately asked for her kids. It was then that she learned about Tyler's heroics.

"My mouth dropped," she said. "I am so proud of him, I started to cry. It was the greatest thing ever."

Tyler said getting the chance to save mommy made him feel like "a superhero." He also said he'll never forget his address again.

Contact Us