Young Woman Risks Life, Saves Boy From Fire

Alyson Myatt said her own safety never crossed her mind.

After waking to a loud boom and realizing smoke detectors were going off in the Shelbyville home where she worked as a nanny early Tuesday morning, all she knew was she had to get to the 5-year-old boy she cared for.

And she did, after walking barefoot through a flaming hallway and carrying the boy to safety from the house on Goldenrod Court. “I didn't even think about me getting burned,” Myatt said. “I care for the kid a lot. I really do.”

She was new on the job -- she’d only been working there two months, reports CBS News Correspondent Whit Johnson.

Speaking from a bed in University Hospital's burn unit Wednesday evening, Myatt, 22, said she had been working as a live-in nanny for the family only two months.

Both her feet and her right hand were heavily bandaged after suffering severe burns, and she said it was too early to guess how long her hospital stay might be or what her recovery might entail.

Still, looking back, Myatt said she felt lucky. “I feel very blessed, it could have been a lot worse,” she said.

The boy’s father, J.B. Hawes, who was out of town, rushed back to Louisville.

“We went to the hospital from the airport, to see Ali,” he told CBS affiliate WLKY-TV, choking back tears. “When someone sacrifices, takes a chance with their life, for your son, it’s pretty amazing.

“He had about a minute to live. Most people wouldn’t have done what she did. I’ll owe her a debt for the rest of her life, because there’s no way to ever repay something like that.”



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CBS News
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CBS News

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