Nine-year-old Sadie Sipes is a champion. A wall of her burned-out home displays trophies she's won for everything from beauty pageants to hunting. Now Sadie can add "hero" to her list of accomplishments.
"It was scary,"said Sadie Sipes.
It was early Friday morning, and Sadie and her mom Stephanie Sipes were asleep inside their home in Linden. At around 4:00 a.m., the fourth grader awoke to the sound of smoke detectors going off. But her mother was sound asleep, ill, and not easy to arouse.
"I told momma and she thought it was just my brother's alarm clock and then she told me to go back to sleep," said Sadie Sipes.
But the alarms kept blaring, by now Sadie Sipes was smelling smoke and terrified for her mom.
"I had to shake her for a little bit because she was sick and then after I finally got her woke up she smelled smoke too," said Sadie Sipes.
The whole back side of the house was in flames. The two made it out and ran next door to a neighbor's to call Sadie's dad and 911.
"I couldn't be more proud of her she's a very brave girl," said Will Gillioun, Sadie's dad.
But the child's bravery didn't end with the fire. Three days after the blaze, Stephanie Sipes had trouble breathing and passed out at a motel room where she and her daughter were staying.
"I walked out of the motel door I just fell out," said Stephanie Sipes.
Once again, Sadie Sipes took control, running back into the motel room and trying to call 911. The call didn't go through because she needed to dial "9" first. Motel staffers called for help when Sadie Sipes dialed zero.
"If I would've lost my momma, I don't know what I would've done," said Sadie Sipes.
But as you can see, mother and child are still here.
"I just thank God It turned out the way it did we may have lost everything but we're still alive,"said Stephanie Sipes.
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