Young Caden called officers for assistance after his mother fell in the lake while trying to rescue their dog.
An 8-year-old boy is getting a lot of attention for calling 911 after his mother and the family dog both ended up in an icy pond.
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Eight-year-old Caden Medernach was walking with his mom, Cathy, and their dog, Baily, in Aurora, Illinois, Sunday afternoon when the pooch saw some ducks and took off running.
Cathy ran after Baily and hopped in the family's canoe when the 11-year-old dog plunged into freezing waters. The canoe toppled and Cathy was thrown overboard.
Caden hustled back into the house and called 911.
“Is your mom safe in the canoe? She's still in the canoe, correct?” the dispatcher asked.
“Yes. But the canoe has a hole in it,” the child replied.
“Your mom needs to come in out of the water, OK? The fire department's on the way. Tell your mom to come in out of the water,” the dispatcher said.
Caden shouted across the backyard to his mom, who was struggling against the added weight of her sopping clothes and boots. "Honey, you're doing fine, just tell her that the police said she needs to come back to the shore," the operator said consolingly.
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On Tuesday, as the 911 tape went viral on the internet, Caden's mother was floored by all the attention.
"I know he's 8 and I know he saved my life, but gosh!" Cathy told InsideEdition.com. "We're a quiet little family. We just have a pond in our back yard," she said, laughing.
Caden is also a little tired of the publicity. "He's just like, 'Enough, mom. Enough.'''
Baily hasn't done much but sleep since her dramatic rescue by the local fire department.
"Right now she's on my poop list," Cathy said. "She was on doggie meds and I came home today to find that she had eaten the whole bag (of pills). She hasn't thrown up, so she must be higher than a kite."
Watching the family's elderly dog fighting in the water was hard, Cathy said. "She looked so tired. But she fought."
"She's good now," Cathy said. "She's highly medicated right now, but she's good."
Meanwhile, Caden has gone back to school, where even his fellow students seem starstruck by his recent media fame.
"I was at school today helping out and one of his classmates asked for his autograph," his mom said, chuckling.
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