A Stafford County fourth-grader recently was recognized as a hero by emergency responders for not only saving his mother’s life, but also his younger brother’s several days later.
The first incident happened April 9, when Jennifer Payne of Stafford County met her two sons — Jackson, 9, and Zachary, 6 — at the bus stop to walk them home.
It was not the normal routine for the mother, who had been resting at home because of a lifelong medical condition. Since birth, she has had a rare congenital heart disease.
“I knew that things were going downhill, and I had been taking it easy hoping to get in with a specialist at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, but I went up to the bus stop anyway, instead of having my neighbor get the kids,” Payne said.