Teen 'Hero' Saves 13-Year-Old Girl, Her Mother From Drowning

Miley Doran, became a "hero" after he single-handedly saved a mother and her teen daughter from drowning.

The 17-year-old Irish boy risked his life to save Stacey Foley and her 13-year-old daughter, Sophie Foley-Smith, who were drowning in the River Barrow in Carlow on Sunday, May 30.

Stacey and her family were in a park near the banks of the river. The happy family outing turned horrifying when Stacey noticed her teen daughter drowning.

Ann Langton, Stacey’s mother, said that her granddaughter Sophie and her friends were sitting by the river with their feet in the water before she stood up and began walking.

Sophie took a couple of steps, and then "went down", Langton said. The force of the current dragged her into the river.

"Being a teenager, she (granddaughter) had no danger of the water. Her friend got in first, then my granddaughter did and she got into difficulties," the grandmother told local radio station KCLR96fm.

Langton said that Stacey "jumped in as her instincts kicked in to save her" daughter.

But Stacey soon realized they were now both in serious trouble.

"My granddaughter held her by the throat and she was bobbing up and down and nearly lost consciousness," Langton said.

"My daughter said she could feel herself getting weak, and all that was in the back of her head was 'if I go down, both of us are going to drown'."

Stacey’s twins, who are eight, were on the banks screaming for someone to help their mother. Miley heard the children scream and rushed for the rescue.

"He didn’t even think of his own safety. Just got up and jumped straight in. He got my granddaughter to the river bank and then my daughter. He definitely is our hero," Langton said.

Speaking to RTÉ News at One, Doran recounted how the terrified young girl came over screaming: "Help! help my mother is drowning! my mother is drowning!"

"When I ran over to see what was happening..the woman was screaming in fear of her life, she was drowning," Doran said.

"I had no time for a lifebuoy or anything like that," he said, "I had no choice but to jump in and pull the two of them out."

"I had to try and do the right thing," the teen hero said.

Langton wants the young boy nominated for the National Bravery Award.

"He will always be our hero. He should be rewarded. He had no second thoughts about it - all he wanted to do was save their lives. Miley went above and beyond. He has a special place in my heart," the grandmother said.

"Miley could have gotten into difficulty too. The fact that he took his life into his own hands has to be acknowledged."

"I will be forever in his debt. His family should be so proud of him and he should be so proud of himself," Langton added.

"He should be an inspiration to all the young people in Carlow," she said. "He is so quiet and so humble, he didn’t even tell his mother."

However, Doran’s mother Maggie soon found out about her son’s heroic act through Facebook.

She said the whole family learned to swim at that very spot, having lived on the banks of the river in the past.

"He loves his fishing, he’s always on that river," she said.

"What he’s done, I am so proud of him." "He took the chance himself and he brought them out."

"If he wasn’t there, God knows what would have happened," she added.

Comedian Martin Beanz Ward commended the young hero's actions.

"Fair play to Miley Doran, for his quick thinking and selfless heroics," he said.

"He's an inspirational young man and a credit to his town and to his community."