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3 local heroes honored for saving drowning 4-year-old in Jefferson County

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office reunited the rescuers with the family they helped.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. — On Friday, three good Samaritans were honored in Jefferson County for saving a little girl from drowning back in June.

It was a hot Sunday in June when 4-year-old Lilianna and her mom Nichole Josephson were out kayaking with the family on Big River and Lilianna got pulled underwater.

“Her bathing suit bottom got stuck on a branch, creating a current, so that's why nobody could get to her,” Josephson said.

Josephson started calling for help and that's when three people nearby jumped into action.

“The mom was up there and she was in distress looking for her baby girl and I just jumped in my boat, I ran straight up the river in my boat, jumped right on top of her, pulled her out of the water and into the boat,” rescuer Calvin Derousse said.

Derousse brought her to shore so Tiffany Story and Victoria Menning could start CPR.

“I mean, it was obvious she wasn't breathing. She was unconscious, she was blue. So I just started CPR and we were able to get to the loading ramp and thankfully Victoria came down and she knew CPR too. I was just so relieved to have someone there to help,” Story said.

Then they called 911 and two Jefferson County deputies happened to be in the area, responding in minutes.

“It's not an easy place to get to. Usually, it's an extended response time," said  Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Major Andy Sides. "So we were very fortunate that they were in the area to be able to basically direct the traffic once they got there so that EMS could come in, life flight and everything that occurred after that. Just to expedite the services resulting in probably Lillianna coming back to life and living again.”

Menning said that as a mom herself it means so much to see Lilianna doing so well.

“It's just you don't have any idea to see her running, playing, crying, laughing and everything normal, it leaves you speechless,” Menning said

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office presented all three rescuers with Citizen Life-Saving Awards for their efforts.

“I said thank you. What else do you say? There's no words for saving the life of your kid,” Josephson said.

Josephson said Lilianna has been in physical therapy for the last few weeks and is doing really well.

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