A 5-year-old Indiana boy was recognized by Gov. Mike Pence and Indiana Sen. Todd Young and given the Hobie’s Heroes Award in a ceremony in Salem, Indiana for his bravery in saving the life of his father.
When little Xander McPheeters of Kentucky thinks back to that day and seeing his father in distress, he breaks down in tears.
“I just run to help and I shut the tractor off…and my dad wouldn’t wake up,” Xander told WHAS.
“It was really scary,” he told WDRB reporters
Xander went inside to get his jacket when he came back outside to see his father knocked unconscious and bleeding while riding a tractor that was still moving.
Being around the equipment all the time, Xander knew how to turn the tractor off before he ran to his neighbors to call 911.
“I helped him,” a tearful Xander told reporters. “I love him.”
It turns out that a tree branch had snapped and hit James McPheeters in the head.
It left him with a serious concussion, a fractured spine, and several broken bones and required him to be airlifted to University Hospital. James McPheeters hadn’t regained his memory immediately after the accident but eventually recovered.
“He still doesn’t know what happened and he knows who we are, but he doesn’t know where he’s at or why he is there or what happened or anything yet, but I am most certain that his dad would be very, very proud of him,” said Danielle McPheeters immediately after the accident.
It is believed that Xander’s actions help saved his father’s life.
“His dad probably would not be where he is now. I don’t know I think if staff flight wouldn’t have gotten here it could have been a lot worse than what it turned out to be,” Xander’s mom, Danielle McPheeters, said. “I am very proud of him, he is awesome, he did all the right things and listened to everything that I taught him.”
His parents were extremely proud of him.
“He’s very smart and has a big heart,” James McPheeters said.
Xander was awarded the Hobie’s Heroes Award which is given to individuals who are 18 or under who “perform heroic actions in the spirit of self-sacrifice without consideration for personal gain, for the benefit of another in significant need.”
You can watch Xander tearfully accept his award in the video below.
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