Stranger's quick thinking saves mother and three children from submerged car

Casey Curtis was driving on a quiet Sunday when he saw a Jeep veer off the road and flip into a canal. He didn't hesitate.

The mother, Shyenique Wilkins, had suffered a seizure at the wheel. Her three children—aged 4 months, 2, and 8—were trapped inside the overturned vehicle. Curtis pulled over, called 911, and waded into the water.

"I got to the car, opened up the door, and there were three kids sitting there, staring at me, helpless," Curtis said later. "They had been crying for help, and for their mother."

He pulled the children to safety first, one by one, onto the bank. Then he went back into the canal, water rising to his chest, to reach Wilkins. Her head was underwater and she wasn't breathing. Curtis lifted her face above the surface and gave her rescue breaths. She began breathing again.

First responders arrived within minutes and transported the family to the hospital. The children escaped without injury. Wilkins was hospitalized on a ventilator but survived because someone was there.

"Nobody was around," Curtis reflected on the remote stretch of road where the accident happened. "If I hadn't been there, I don't know what would have happened."

There's no way to know for certain—but the math is stark. A seizure while driving, three young children, a submerged vehicle, and no witnesses. The margin between outcome and tragedy compressed to the seconds it took Curtis to notice and act.

Wilkins' family set up a GoFundMe to help with medical bills. The community has contributed over $4,100 so far.