This Woman Opened The Door To See Neighbor’s son saying “my mom died in the shower”

When you hear an unexpected knock on your front door after dark, do you open it? Fortunately for one Arizona family, their neighbor did—and it may very well have been because of what she saw through the window when she checked to see exactly who had come knocking.

Jessica Penoyer opened her door one evening in April 2017 to find her five-year-old neighbor, Salvatore, standing on her stoop. The young boy was there without an adult, which was surprising in itself, but then Penoyer realized that he had something—or someone—in his arms.

“He’s standing there and he’s holding something, and I thought it was a doll,” she told Arizona’s ABC15.

Upon closer inspection, however, Penoyer could see that the doll was not a toy at all—it was Salvatore’s two-month-old baby sister. He had wrapped a blanket around the infant and carried her along with him all the way to his neighbor’s house.

At this point, the wheels in Penoyer’s mind were turning: why were these two small children alone and out of the house after dark? She asked the boy for an explanation, and at first, she could have sworn he said his dog had died.

In fact, his presence had nothing to do with a pet. The only other person at the Cicalese home at the time was Sal’s mother, Kaitlyn. For the young family, it had seemed like a typical evening, albeit a slightly stressful one, as any parent of two young children can relate to. Once the mother had put her little ones down for the night, she decided to treat herself and started running the water for a long, hot shower.

Shortly after, however, her young son heard a sudden thud that woke him right up from his sleep. When Sal went to check on his mom, he found her lying unconscious in the bathtub.

Sal’s next moves would have been remarkable for an adult or a teenager, let alone a five-year-old child. He went straight to his baby sister, wrapped her securely in a blanket, and ensured she was safe. After gently placing his swaddled sister in the living room, the little boy ran to the garage.

There, he dragged a stool into position so his tiny fingers could reach the garage door opener. He slipped once, tumbling into a pile of shoes, but quickly picked himself back up. He climbed onto the stool again and hit the button to open the exit. Little Sal then dashed back inside, scooped up the baby, and walked out through the garage door he had managed to open.

He knocked on Penoyer’s door to tell her what had happened. When she initially misunderstood and thought he said his dog had passed away, the young boy corrected her immediately.

“No, my mom died in the shower. Can you take care of us?”

Penoyer told ABC15 that hearing those words prompted her to call emergency services instantly, and responders rushed to the scene.

“My neighbor came to my house and said that his mom was dead in the shower.”

In the meantime, Penoyer went over to the house and discovered Kaitlyn lying in the bathtub with the water still running.

Fortunately, the paramedics confirmed that Kaitlyn had not passed away. Instead, she had suffered a severe seizure—her second since giving birth to Sal’s little sister. Frighteningly, her last memory of that night was simply turning on the shower, and the next thing she knew, she was waking up in a hospital bed.

It did not take long for Kaitlyn to learn the full extent of her son’s bravery.

“Honestly, he saved my life, because I was under the faucet and if he wouldn’t have gotten help, I don’t know… I would have drowned,” she told ABC15.

The young boy did not just save his mother’s life; he was also thoughtful enough to look after his baby sister. Kaitlyn mentioned that Sal had brought the baby to the neighbor’s house so she would not have to witness the trauma of seeing their mother unresponsive.

Even though Kaitlyn made a full recovery, the youngster struggled to fully grasp that she was going to be fine.

“Every day is a challenge for us. He asks me probably a billion times if I’m going to be okay. He’ll ask me, ‘Are you going to have another seizure?’ ‘No, I’m okay.’ ‘Are you going to die today?’ ‘No, I’m not going to die today.’”

Despite his lingering worries, young Sal received some well-deserved recognition for his heroism. When the local firefighting squad heard about the boy’s quick thinking and brave actions, they decided to name him an honorary firefighter. Little Sal was presented with an official certificate, a uniform shirt, a helmet, and a department patch.

“Rural Metro Fire Department wants to recognize you as an honorary firefighter, so you get to join the ranks of all these guys that came to help your mom,” said Rural Metro Fire Department spokesman Shawn Gilleland.

Sal accepted the honor with a huge grin. While celebrating the boy’s courage, Gilleland also took the opportunity to emphasize the vital importance of basic emergency readiness for young children.

“Talk to your kids about it: what do you need to do, how do you dial 911, and what the proper uses of 911 are.”

As for the Cicalese family, Kaitlyn noted they had never actually had that conversation with Sal prior to the incident. Fortunately, the five-year-old acted purely on instinct and love for his family, and his quick, decisive thinking ultimately saved his mother’s life.