FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) — Days after an 11-year-old boy rushed to rescue a drowning girl in Deerfield Beach, her family hopes to thank her savior in person.
Mirelle Michel said she will always be grateful for 11-year-old Angel Rivera and his quick, heroic actions. "I would like to thank him, and I would like to meet him personally to take him for lunch," she said.
Mirelle said she had called her daughter, 13-year-old Usely Michel, and her two sisters out of the pool at the Highland Village community in Deerfield Beach, Sunday evening, but Usely, who doesn’t know how to swim well, went under.
That’s when Angel saw what was happening, dove in and brought the young victim to the top. "What I did was, when she was down on the bottom, I picked her up, I took her up, and I then I had to save her life," he said, "’cause her sisters were screaming. I’m like, ‘What happened?’ And then I just see a girl all the way at the bottom drowning."
A neighbor ran to the scene and began administering CPR before rescue crews arrived. Paramedics were able to get Usely to breathe again and transported her to Broward Health Medical Center in critical condition.
Two days later, Usely is off a ventilator and walking and talking. She could be released as early as Wednesday.
The girl’s family said they plan to meet Angel once she is released from the hospital. Mirelle said the boy has lived up to his name. "Without him I could have lost my daughter right now because he saved my daughter’s life."