Hero

Ten-year-old Danny DiPietro was on his way home
from lacrosse practice with his dad on Saturday
night when he thought he spotted a dog lying in
the open garage of a condo complex near his
home in Howell, Mich. “It was really cold out and something didn’t seem
right,” Danny told TODAY.com. DiPietro’s parents assured him that no one would
leave their dog out on such a frigid evening, but
he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was
wrong. After a bit of prodding, his mom, Dawn,
agreed to investigate the garage for him. “He wouldn’t give up,” Dawn, 44, told
TODAY.com. “Thankfully, he was persistent.” As Dawn walked up the driveway, she realized
what Danny had seen was actually an elderly
woman lying on the ground, waving her gloveless
hands in the air for help. The woman, 80-year-old Kathleen St. Onge, had
been stuck in below-freezing temperatures for an
hour and a half after slipping on a patch of ice in
her garage. To make matters worse, she had lost
her gloves and shoes in an attempt to scoot
herself to the front of the garage, where she thought she would be spotted more easily. And a
bitter wind was carrying snow inside. “She said she had prayed to the Blessed Mother
that someone would help her and find her,” St.
Onge’s daughter Sandy St. Onge-Mitter told
TODAY.com. “She knew she only had about an
hour left. She thought she would be gone.” Dawn immediately ran home and called 911. The
DiPietros and a neighbor came back with blankets
and chatted with St. Onge while she warmed up.
When police arrived, she was rushed to a nearby
hospital. “I was amazed,” Danny said. “I just felt really
good that she was okay.” St. Onge was released on Wednesday afternoon
after being treated for hypothermia and
dehydration. Doctors told her family that she
would not have survived an hour longer in the
extreme cold. “She’s grateful,” St. Onge-Mitter said. “She
knows that if it wasn’t for Danny's persistency, she
probably wouldn’t be here today. So he is a hero.” St. Onge has yet to meet Danny in person, but her
daughter says she “can’t wait.” The DiPietros had
an opportunity to meet St. Onge-Mitter on
Tuesday during an interview for local television. “It was very emotional,” St. Onge-Mitter said.
“Danny’s a remarkable boy, but his family should
also be getting a lot of credit. They acted on his
hunch. It was a family affair.” The two families plan on staying in touch. “We’ve made a life-long friend,” St. Onge-Mitter
said.