Mom-of-two, Becca Hampton from Knottingley, West Yorks, England, witnessed an amazing act of bravery recently which she shared on social media.
On Sunday afternoon, her 15-month-old son, Reggie, was playing in the yard when he got out through a makeshift gate and headed for a nearby canal.
But thank God that 15-year-old Ryley Ferguson was nearby, walking his pups when he saw Reggie walking toward the canal and heard the sound of him falling into the water.
“Basically, I was walking the dogs on the other side of the canal and I could hear this little kid shouting us and waving,” he said. “I realised how young he was and with him being on the other side I thought I need to go and get him or he’s going to go in.”
Ryley removed his jacket and jumped in and reached the boy and started shouting for help, as he was unable to drag the toddler out of the water alone. “Since it’s happened I’ve been ok, it doesn’t feel real and I did what anyone else would do, it’s just lucky that I was there because 30 seconds later, he would have been dead,” he said.
Ryley has been hailed a hero and Hampton has dubbed him a “guardian angel.”
“Knottingley has a new HERO,” Susan Dann posted on Sunday. “RYLEY FERGUSON from The Ridgeway.”
“While walking the canal today RYLEY witnessed an unaccompanied toddler fall into the canal from the opposite bank below Foundry Lane. Without further ado RYLEY immediately stripped off some clothing, dived in and swam across and saved the toddlers life. By the time RYLEY got there the toddler was submerged.”
“WELL DONE RYLEY.”
“Our town is extremely fortunate to have a lad like Ryley,” Tom Gordon, a local councillor, said. “He’s a hero and he deserves to be recognised as such.”
Ryley’s parents, Amy and Michael, have been hearing all of the praise for their son and are so proud of their son.
“We heard from one of the neighbors near the canal that they saw what happened and she said Ryley didn’t hesitate and jumped straight in after the toddler,” his mom said.
“If he had been seconds later that kid would have drowned and no one would have known where he went,” his dad pointed out. “He must have had somebody watching over him.”
Hampton shared a photo of Ryley holding Reggie and said she’ll be keeping it as a reminder. “Our hero right there with my boy,” Hampton shared on Tuesday.
“[T]his photo will be getting printed and put into a frame and put where Reggie can see it so he knows who his guardian angel is. Reggie will always know who his hero is and we will forever be in your debt.”