7 Year Old Called A Hero After Saving Her Brother

A Tulsa County girl's sharp eyes and quick thinking helped save her brother over the weekend. <br/><br/>7-year-old Alysa Sparks knew something was out of place when she saw her brother's lifejacket

Tuesday, August 8th 2006, 10:33 am

By: News On 6

A Tulsa County girl's sharp eyes and quick thinking helped save her brother over the weekend.

7-year-old Alysa Sparks knew something was out of place when she saw her brother's lifejacket sitting on the side of an above-ground pool.

As News on 6 reporter Steve Berg explains it's what she did next that made her a hero.

7-year-old Alysa Sparks and 6-year-old Toby Sparks don't seem to have a care in the world. Alysaâ€™s mom Brandy on the other hand, hasn't been as quick to recover. "You never think it would happen. You'd think your kids know better."

The Sparks were at a family friend's house on Sunday where they had an above-ground pool, only four feet deep, with a ladder on the outside.

Little Alysa deduced that something was wrong. "I had one lifejacket on me, and then I saw one on the side of the pool." Steve Berg: "So you realized your brother didn't have his on." Alysa: "Yeah, and then he was splashing and I'm like, what in the world is he doing?"

She says she climbed up the ladder and saw Toby in trouble. "He was standing on his front feet, but he was bobbing up and down and he was going under and back up, under and back up."

Brandy: "We were sitting around the table talking and Alysa got up on the ladder and hollered, â€˜Mommy, Toby's drowning.â€™ She jumped in and held his arms above his head and dad jumped in and grabbed him. And his mouth, his lips were blue, he was turning blue, but he was still awake."

Brandy Sparks has no doubt that Alysa's alertness made the difference between a rescue and a tragedy. "Because it can happen in the blink of an eye. She's awesome. She's awesome, if not for her, we might have found him floatin'. She's an awesome girl."

Brandy says she never thought her son would go into a pool because he's scared of water. She warns other parents that even a relatively shallow pool is dangerous.