8-year-old honored for life-saving actions to help pregnant mother

BROCKTON, Mass. — An 8-year-old boy became a hero for his mother when he remembered the right thing to do at the right time and saved her life. On Thursday, authorities held a special ceremony to honor him for his quick thinking.

It was last September and Dominic Ginnetty's mother, Ali Ginnetty, was pregnant. She also wasn't feeling very well.

"I just laid down for a minute and that's all I remember," she said.

It turned out Dominic's mother was having a stroke. He was home with his sister and scrambled to a neighbor's house for help.

The 8-year-old stayed calm and comforted his sister as the Brockton Fire Department arrived.

"This is extremely impressive," Brockton Fire Chief Michael Williams said at a ceremony held Thursday at Brookfield Elementary School. "The Brockton Fire Department would like to credit Dominic for his life-saving actions. ... On behalf of all of us at the department of fire services, and as your state Fire Marshall, I want to present you with this award certificate. It's to 'Young Hero Dominic Ginnetty.' That's you."

Fire officials say Dominic, now a big brother to two girls, had participated in the department's S.A.F.E. Program, designed to show kids what to do in an emergency.

"It makes us feel good because we know that the education we're doing in the schools is paying off," Williams said.

The idea is for that education to be reinforced at home.

"I'm doing something right, and so is the school," Ali Ginnetty said. "He took control, he stayed calm and he did what he had to do."

Cox Media Group