North Dakota girl saves toddler from drowning

Mackenzie Wilkinson, a 10-year-old girl from Dickinson, North Dakota, is being hailed a hero for saving a 2-year-old boy from drowning last Tuesday.

Perhaps most remarkable is the fact that young Mackenzie has never taken a single swimming lesson.

Mackenzie was swimming with a pool noodle at Patterson Lake near Dickinson when she spotted a toddler, wearing a lifejacket, floating face-down in the water.

She immediately took action, using her pool noodle to nudge the boy and encouraging him to grab on.

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"Next thing I know, Mackenzie’s coming up with this kid and this woman grabs this baby — he's maybe two or so — and she came over to me and she said, 'That little girl saved my baby,'" her proud grandfather, Bob Henderson, who witnessed the rescue, told the Forum News Service.

Mackenzie's mom, Cherie Wilkinson, credits her daughter's smart response to her tagging along to a CPR class last summer.

"She's too young to have the certification, but she went through the certification class," Cherie said. "She was so excited about it. She went home and made her dad lie on the floor and act like he was dying, it was really cute."

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Mackenzie now wants to be a lifeguard when she's older, hopefully at their local municipal pool that's rarely open.

"It's a nice pool and the community really enjoys it when they have the pool open," Cherie said. "They need to figure it out...That pool plays a major part in children’s lives during the summer."