Attentive 3-Year-Old Boy Helps Save Elderly Neighbor Trapped in Basement for Days

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A 3-year-old from Hampton, New Hampshire, is earning praise for helping save his elderly neighbor from a potentially dangerous situation as she was trapped in her own basement.

On May 6, 2020, as Eyas Tran and his mother were on a walk in the neighborhood, the keen-eyed toddler noticed his neighbor Peggy’s newspaper. The little boy then went to put the newspaper on the porch when he noticed that there were several more deliveries piled up on her front steps.

“There was one, two, three newspapers,” Eyas said in an interview with WBZ-TV. The little boy immediately alerted his mother, Minh Tran. What was worrying was that Peggy didn’t come to the door to say hello when he rang the doorbell.

Minh then tried contacting her senior neighbor, who lives alone, several times by phone as well as ring the doorbell, but she couldn’t get through. That’s when she called the police.

For Eyas’s family, who considers their elderly neighbor “as family,” the situation “was definitely out of the ordinary.”

A press release from the Hampton Police Department that was posted on their Facebook page explained that “[w]hen units arrived, they were able to gain entry in to the residence.”

The police then found Peggy in the basement. She was trapped in a small corridor.

Despite Peggy being trapped for over three days, the police department noted in their statement that the senior citizen was “in good spirits” and taken to Portsmouth Hospital for treatment of “minor injuries.”

Deputy Police Chief David Hobbs told WBZ-TV that “it was just one of those freak accidents where the door closed behind her, and she was stuck downstairs.” Deputy Chief Hobbs also expressed gratitude to Eyas. He further added, “We truly thank this young boy for his actions in alerting his mother.”

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Given the long period of confinement for most Americans due to the CCP virus, what young Eyas did was particularly notable, according to the police. “We just want to say to everybody else, be more like Eyas,” Deputy Chief Hobbs emphasized. “Check on your neighbors. Look after each other.”

With his heroic action, Eyas’s family was pleased with his timely insight. “He’s a pretty smart kid,” his mother said. “We’re proud of him.”

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With elderly and immunocompromised people particularly vulnerable to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus, safely checking in on those that live alone is particularly important.

The American Association of Retired People (AARP) has created a tool called  “Community Connections“ to help people get the support they need during the crisis.

This gives older Americans access to mutual aid groups in their area, which can help them organize deliveries of groceries and medication, as well as get emotional support from others who are in the same situation.

Lonely and isolated seniors can even get a phone call from a volunteer through the AARP program “Friendly Voices,” which operates during daytime hours of the week. The trained volunteers not only put them in touch with services but can also offer some much-needed contact during this period.

While all these resources are indeed helpful, there’s nothing that can compare with the simple gesture of Eyas, who checked in on his favorite neighbor to make sure she was doing alright.