Adriana Watters had spoken out about the hero who managed to rescue her 3-yr-old from drowning in the river Lee yesterday afternoon.
3-yr-old Caleb Watters was walking through Cork City at midday yesterday, with his au pair, Anna, and his 18-month-old sister, Lucia, when he ran over to the edge of the river.
Caleb fell into the River Lee and was rescued by Maria Foley, from Cobh.
Before Anna could grab him, Caleb had slipped and fallen 20 feet into the water.
The au pair started screaming for someone to take the buggy she had been pushing, so that she could jump in after the boy. Within seconds however, a passerby, Maria Foley, a mother-of-13 from Cobh, had dived into the river to rescue the child.
“She really is a true hero. She’s our guardian angel,”, Adriana said.
“I’m just absolutely amazed by this act of selflessness, that she just saw a child in distress and just jumped in without thinking about herself. It’s amazing to see someone do that. It’s not everyone who would. She’s truly special”.
There have already been calls for Maria Foley to be awarded a medal for her outstanding bravery yesterday – highly deserved.