Animal Hoops

Brave Nine-Year Old’s Heroic Act Saves Sister

By Meera Dolasia on 03/24/2011    Click here for original story and photos

To say that nine-year old Anaiah Rucker is a hero is an understatement, because there are truly no words to describe this young girl, who saved her younger sister from sure death, while putting her own life on the line.

February 4th, 2011 began as a typical morning in the Rucker household. After breakfast, Anaiah and her five year-old sister Camry, left for the school bus stop, situated across their house, while their mother watched from the balcony.

It was raining heavily, so both girls had their hoodies on, which is probably the reason they did not notice a truck that was approaching, as they tried to run across the road.

By the time Anaiah saw it from the corner of her eye, it was too late to prevent an impact – However, it was not too late to save her sister from fatal injury. Without giving it a second thought, Anaiah pulled Camry out of harm’s way, and ended up bearing the entire brunt of the impact herself.

The nine-year old collapsed on the ground and stopped breathing for a few minutes. Fortunately, Loretta Berriman, a school bus driver who had watched the horrifying event as it unfolded, ran to her rescue and performed CPR, until she felt a heart beat.

The two sisters were rushed to the hospital, where young Camry was declared free from major injury. Anaiah, on the other hand, had broken both her legs, fractured her neck, damaged her spleen and destroyed a kidney.

Surgeons worked for over ten hours to save the big-hearted girl’s life, and while they were able to repair her right leg and neck, her left leg was too shattered and had to be amputated the day following her accident. It took a month of rehabilitation before this brave little girl was released from the hospital and brought home to a heroes’ welcome by her schoolmates and other residents of Madison.

Despite her severe injuries, Anaiah doesn’t believe that she did anything heroic, because if she hadn’t taken the hit, her little sister would have probably not survived, which, would have been worse. What an amazing big sister!