“I saw my mom on the floor and I couldn’t wake her up,” he said.
Deatherage, who was 10 at the time, didn’t know his mom was having a stroke, but he did know what to do.
“My mom always taught me that if something happens to her to call 911,” he said.
He grabbed his mom’s cell phone and used the emergency option to bypass the lock screen and get help.
Once he knew that help was on the way, he went to get a neighbor so he wouldn’t have to wait in his house alone.
Lakisha Kidd, Deatherage’s mother, said she’s proud of his quick-thinking.
“It brought tears to my eyes,” she said.
Due to having severe health issues, Kidd has talked to her son about what to do and who to call if she needs help, but Deatherage knew how to help in ways they’d never discussed.
“He said I was foaming and he didn’t want me to choke on it,” she said. “So he laid me down and tilted my head...He did all that on his own. If it wasn’t for that I don’t think I’d here.”
Kidd said the recognition from the sheriff’s office is “priceless” and called it “a proud parent moment.”
She also advised that other families who have relatives with health issues should talk to their children about what to do in an emergency.
“They can know exactly what to do,” Kidd said. “He stood up, he did what he had to do, he was very quick and I think that just comes from me running drills with him.”
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