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Jasmine and Jacora Morris were on their phones when they happened to look out the window of their third-floor West Des Moines, Iowa, apartment and saw two kids who’d fallen through the ice in a pond behind the building. Jasmine, 15, and her 17-year-old sister ran downstairs and toward the pond and didn’t hesitate to jump into the frigid water to save the children, believed to be seven or eight years old.
Paramedics arrived after the children had been pulled safely out of the water and West Des Moines EMS Division Chief Doug Harms was amazed by the Morris sister’s heroic actions. “Not many children would drop what they are doing, or adults, and just run out and wade into water up to their shoulders to pull two other kids out," Harms says.
Jaqueline Morris, the teens’ mom says the girls’ years of swimming lessons really paid off. "I am very proud!,” she says. “I don't even have the words to say. Wow, those were my girls.” For their act of bravery, the city of West Des Moines plans to recognize the Morris sisters with a lifesaving award.