Hero Mom Saves the Day by Rescuing Three Children Drowning in Lake Michigan…And She Was Pregnant at the Time!

Sometimes we call our mothers “heroes” for all they do for us, but consider this story of when a hero mom saves the day. Michigan mother, Alyssa DeWitt, became a hero to many more earlier this year when she rescued three children under age 15 from drowning in Lake Michigan. And this mother who was also five months pregnant at the time, will one day be able to share with her son how he took part in her heroic act.

Here’s How This Hero Mom Saves the Day

On that day, Manistee, Michigan resident, Alyssa DeWitt had been considering taking her kids to the beach, but the wind was a deterrent. “I sat in the driveway for a good 5 minutes with all of us in the van contemplating just staying home,” she said. “But something told me to go, so we did.” Interestingly, she reported that in addition to the prompting to go to the beach, despite her hesitation, she also decided to to go to the pier side of First Street Beach in Manistee, a part of the beach she reported they never went to.

And thankfully they did because that’s how the hero mom saves the day. After Alyssa DeWitt had arrived with her children and were enjoying the beach, because at the same time, three kids had been pulled into an unsafe place by a rip tide. The Manistee City Police Department’s new release stated, “Two young children had been swimming in Lake Michigan near the First Street Beach pier when they began to struggle.” The release explained that an older child saw the struggling children and went to try to help them, when they were all pulled out into the water.

According to Alyssa DeWitt, she noticed some hands waving from the water when she realized someone must be in trouble. “I immediately got my kids out of the water and ran onto the pier.” She explained that when she reached the three children, they were repeatedly being slammed into the edge of the pier and being overwhelmed by the water.

“They were literally drowning in front of my eyes and there was not one person on that side of the beach I could scream to for help. It was empty,” Alyssa DeWitt said.

So she called 911, and the wind and water was so loud that she couldn’t hear the dispatcher over the phone. She explained that she prayed that they heard her even though she couldn’t hear them.

“One of those girls looked at me with so much fear in her eyes and told me she was going to die. I promised her I would not let that happen,” said Alyssa DeWitt. “I promised her with everything I had in me.”

Being a local, she knew what could happen if something wasn’t done immediately. Unfortunately, many young people across Michigan have lost their lives due to the strength of rip currents and undertows and how they can cause people to be pulled too far out into the water or cause fatal injuries when the person is near rocks or a pier. According the the Manistee safety departments, even the strongest swimmers are in serious danger when swimming in water with strong rip currents and undertows.

Next, the hero mom saves the day by continuing to take action. Despite being five months pregnant, she laid on her belly and reached over the edge for each of the children. She pulled each one out of the water, one-by-one, and got them to safety. “The adrenaline kicked into high gear and somehow I did it. I pulled them up the pier wall, with the waves slamming into me and throwing the kids all over the place, pulling with all my might on wet slippery hands, and almost going over the edge myself.”

She explained she had it in her mind that she was going to do whatever she had to to help those kids get to safety. And just after they were pulled out of the water and taken to safety, the Manistee police arrived. The Manistee police chief, Josh Glass, reported, “When I saw how much (of the water) that was spraying over the pier, I was extremely concerned. But by that time, they had already had the young people out of the water.”

After this hero mom saves the day, Glass said, “Thankfully all parties involved sustained minor injuries, but without the actions of this heroic young lady could have easily turned out differently.” He later said, “I think it’s pretty obvious what would have happened if she wasn’t there.”

After the event, Alyssa DeWitt, too, went to the emergency room, to have herself and her unborn baby evaluated. Thankfully, both the baby and she were okay, and the boy baby was born in September.