Youth : News for the 18-and-under crowd : Girl, 10, Honored for Saving Mother

Though she is only 10 years old, Bethany Lampe is a community hero.

The fifth-grader was honored by the City Council on Tuesday for the courage she showed when she saved the life of her mother, Vicki Lampe, who was stricken by a heart attack while driving with Bethany along Rancho Viejo Road.

The 44-year-old mother of four, who had undergone heart surgery only weeks earlier, began having chest pains. As she pulled her car over, gasping for breath, she said to her daughter, “I’m having a heart attack, Bethany. You’re in charge.” She then lapsed into unconsciousness.

Bethany flew into action, placing a nitro pill under her mother’s tongue, as she had learned to do in such a situation. Then, she used her mother’s cellular phone to call 911, citing the only landmark in sight: a business called Endevco. Paramedics arrived within eight minutes.

Only after they arrived at Mission Hospital, where Vicki Lampe suffered two more heart attacks, did Bethany break down in tears.

“She didn’t panic,” said Vicki Lampe, who has since had double-bypass surgery. “She was calm as a cucumber.”

For her bravery during the Oct. 16 incident, Bethany was given a medal, a bouquet of roses and a round of hugs from council members. But the soft-spoken youngster doesn’t consider herself a hero. She said she simply did what she had to under the circumstances.

“If I didn’t, she would have died,” she said.