Hanna Pignato is a 19 year-old waitress from Daytona Beach, Florida who is being hailed as a hero after she was injured while saving a little boy’s life.

Hanna was working on the rooftop deck of Joe’s Crab Shack last Saturday when she heard someone screaming for help. When she looked over, she saw a terrified mother whose son got stranded from his boogie board and was caught in a strong rip tide, and she knew right away that she had to do something.

“I saw the mom screaming and crying. Just hearing her wail terrified me. Then I saw the little boy … his head just kept going down,” Hanna recalled.
Without hesitating, Hanna threw off her shoes and jumped off the pier into the water. She was confident in her swimming skills, and she knew that it was up to her to save the little boy.

Sadly, when Hanna jumped in, she hit a sandbar and got fractures in her right foot and her back. Though she was in an incredible amount of pain, Hanna kept swimming, as she was determined to save the boy.

“I didn’t want the baby to die,” she said. “He wasn’t a baby, he was 7 years old, 8 years old, but still I mean, that’s a human life — you just can’t look at that and walk away.”

In the end, Hanna was able to save the boy and get him out of the water alive. Since then, she has been recovering in the hospital, where she learned that she broke her right foot in three places.

“She had surgery on her foot this morning,” Heather’s mother said. “I’m just glad she won’t need surgery on her back.”

Even with her injuries, Hanna is just glad that the little boy is safe.

Hanna’s family could not be more proud of her after her heroic deed.

“She kept saying ‘I’m sorry, don’t be mad at me’ and I said ‘Hanna, you tried to save someone,’” Hanna’s mother said.

Find out more about this amazing story in the video below!