Teen hero hailed
Published: September 15, 2006
A PALM Island teenager has been honoured for saving her cousin’s life after he leapt about 15 metres from a cliff and was injured.
Zillah Bramwell, 17, was awarded with the prestigious Queensland Ambulance Service Young Hero of the Year Award at a ceremony in Townsville yesterday.
The modest hero yesterday said she only did what anyone else would have done in her position.
Zillah was at the beach with her young cousins when the tragedy happened in November last year.
The children had been jumping from a cliff into the water.
But Zillah’s 12-year-old cousin misjudged and jumped into shallow water, landing on rocks and seriously injuring his leg and spine.
Zillah said she ran to see if he was OK.
“He was in a lot of pain. I just grabbed him and held him out of the water,” Zillah said. “Someone else called the ambulance. I ran down to help.
“He broke his leg so I just grabbed him and held him.”
But Palm Island Ambulance officer Ian Day, who nominated Zillah for the young hero award, said the teenager’s actions had undoubtedly saved the boy from further injury – or even death.
Mr Day said Zillah had remained clam and level-headed, despite the seriousness of the situation.
“The accident happened at the new dam on Palm Island in an area they call the Spoon Drop,” Mr Day said.
“The 12-year-old lad had jumped off a cliff and misjudged his jump, landing in water which was very shallow with rocks directly underneath.
“He broke his leg and was also complaining of back pain, which could have meant spinal injuries, and he had chest pain which could have meant he had broken ribs from the fall.
“This girl managed to get down to him and keep him afloat in the water until we arrived, rather than attempting to get him out.”
Zillah was presented with a medallion and certificate for her quick thinking.
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: