Two 12-year-old boys in Hertfordshire saved a man in his 20s from jumping off a bridge over the A10 yesterday.
They managed to convince the suicidal stranger, who had tied a rope around his neck, from killing himself until 47-year-old Joanna Stammers came to the rescue and held the man until the police arrived.
Stammers heard one of the boys saying to the man: "Please don't do this, I am young." The distraught man was then taken to hospital at 6.20pm yesterday.
The A10, Waltham Cross. Credit: Google Earth
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Stammers, who suffers from Klippel-Trénaunay syndrome, a rare disability that makes her highly prone to blood clotting and unable to work, rushed to help the two school children. They were talking to the man and holding him back as they tried to stop him from throwing himself over the bridge.
Stammers praised the unnamed little boy for his heroism: "That little boy is a hero, kids his age might walk past and take the mick but he took it upon his little head to hold him back with all his weight," said Stammers, talking to the Hertford Mercury.
"The boy relaxed when I took over but he was distraught, I kept thinking he needs counselling because he had somebody's life in his hands and if he let go he would have died.
"The man just didn't want to live anymore, he was crying and I said to him 'please don't do this to us' and he said 'then go and just leave me'.
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"The more he moved around the tighter the rope got."
"I had just left my nan's house and was on my way back home to London when I saw a little boy running to the bridge saying a man has a rope around his neck," said Stammers.
"I saw these two little boys hanging on to him and leaning back with all their weight so I rushed over and put my hands through the rail to put the man into a kind of arm lock.
"I held on for what felt like forever until a man arrived and he got handcuffs out. Fire and ambulance came too, but they had to get a cherry picker because he would not come down a ladder.
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"I hope I am never in that kind of situation again."
Credit: Google Earth
The two boys attend St Mary's School in Cheshunt.
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'U OK M8?' is an initiative from LADbible in partnership with a range of mental health charities which features a series of films and stories to raise awareness of mental health.
Explore more here and don't suffer in silence. Reach out. It's the brave thing to do.
MIND: 0300 123 3393.
Samaritans: 116 123.
CALM: Outside London 0808 802 5858, inside London 0800 58 58 58.
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Featured Image Credit: Google Street View