Lexie Comeau-Drisdelle proved to the world that heroes come in all packages. The nine-year-old little girl from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, saved her 1-year-old brother from drowning in their family pool despite of her disability!
Perfectly showing to the world that, not even a disability stand a chance against a little girl with an intelligent mind and caring heart.
Because of her cerebral palsy, Lexie cannot walk nor talk. But despite being wheelchair bound, she has always been a doting and dutiful sister to her 1-year-old brother, Leeland.
In preparation for her ninth birthday, Lexie’s family members were all busy prepping the home and cooking meals to be shared by her friends and loved ones.
Since everyone was busy cleaning the house and putting up decorations, even the grandmother who was looking after Leeland had to help around.
The moment her grandmother turned her back, the playful and curious 1-year-old Leeland took it as an opportunity to explore around.
For the first time, he was able to successfully open the backdoor, and, in an instant, bolted out towards the outdoor pool.
Fortunately for the innocent boy, his loving sister, Lexie was right beside him and witnessed what happened.
Though Lexie couldn’t run after her brother nor call out his name to stop him, still she knew that she had to do something.
The little girl knew the gravity of the situation, and so, she did what she only could… Lexie screamed!
Lexie let loose a blood-curling scream which successfully alerted all of her family members. Thinking that something bad happened to Lexie, they stopped what they were doing to quickly attend to Lexie.
It was Lexie’s grandmother, Nancy Comeau-Drisdelle, who first arrived in the room and found the nine-year-old little girl screaming on the top of her lungs while pointing towards the open back door. In a matter of minutes, the 1-year-old boy wandered around and already fell into the pool, drowning.
“When my mom told me what was going on, I quickly looked out the window and there, at the edge of the pool I saw his little head,” Lexie’s mother, Kelly Jackson said, recounting heart-stopping moment. “I began to panic, and my mom quickly ran towards him and pulled him out.”
Because Lexie is a smart and intelligent girl, she was able to quickly call for help and saved the life of her adorable little brother. Without her fast thinking, things could have had a tragic turn.
“At that moment, it was so scary. We thought it was not going to end well, we hugged him a million times. In two seconds a life can change and we are just thankful that Lexie was so quick to alert us,” Kelly added, expressing how grateful she is for Lexie’s abrupt reaction.
Right after the incident, the family decided to install a gate around the yard pool and even sealed it with a padlock to avoid unfortunate accidents from happening again.
Because of her alertness, smartness, and quick action, Lexie’s admirable act of heroism did not go unnoticed by the people of Halifax Regional Council and City’s Police Department.
Lexie’s heroism was not only recognized in the confinement of the police department but in the entire world as well when it became viral on Twitter.
“Heroes come in all sizes. It was a real pleasure to recognize young Lexie for alerting her mom when her toddler brother made a dash for the pool.” mayor Mike Savage shared on Twitter.
Lexie’s mother hopes that her mighty and bright nine-year-old daughter will help others realize that people with cerebral palsy are intelligent and capable of understanding situation as well.
“Some people think that because they have a disability, they are not able to do things, but if she could walk, she would have grabbed him and he would have never gone out there,” Kelly expressed. “Her disability is all physical. She is a very bright girl.”
May Leah’s beautiful story remind everyone of us to see a person beyond their limitations. At the end of the day, the only disability in life is a bad attitude!
Watch the inspiring video of Leah below to learn more about her heroic deed, proving to the world that a disability is not synonymous to “I can’t” because they definitely can!
Video | CTV News