7-year-old Ada boy saves brother who falls from cliff

Sulphur, Okla. (KXII) -A seven-year-old boy is being called a hero after saving his three-year-old brother who plummeted down a nearly 100 foot cliff.

Both boys survived that incident and their mother spoke to News 12 on how the boys are doing today.

“There’s really not any words for it honestly,” said mother, Amy Branom,

Branom recalls that life changing day, “Saturday evening, my mom and my three kids and one of their dogs went out to Sulphur to go hiking up the mountain or the little trails they have up there.”

Park Ranger and spokesperson for the Chickasaw National Recreation Area said the family was on the ‘Rock Creek Trail.’

Their dog jumped down onto a ledge on the side of the cliff; Riley followed behind her.

“We’re not really sure if he slipped, or he fell, or tripped, we don’t really know exactly how it happened but he fell off of that rock.”

The family said without a second thought, big brother Dakota went down the cliff to help his brother.

Both boys fell nearly 100 feet down the cliff and into a creek.

“Once Dakota got down there to Riley, he pulled Riley out of the water.”

Branom said the water was cold that day, “[Dakota] just didn’t have quite enough strength to get him all the way up, but he got his head out from underneath the water.”

It took rangers less than ten minutes to get to the boys.

Riley suffered several head and face injuries, two broken ribs, and a fractured wrist.

“Dakota, the older brother, he had a laceration on his forehead and a small laceration on the back of head. And his knee… was pretty bad, they thought he was gonna have skin grafted.”

Dakota is back home in Ada, but Riley remains in the OU Children’s Hospital.

“He’s got a feeding tube right now, he’s got a catheter in, a lot of IV’s.”

Brano is proud of the love and bond the two brothers share, “[Dakota] doesn’t understand exactly what he did, he knows that he saved his brother but he doesn’t understand that we could be in a funeral home right now instead of at the hospital.”

While little Riley still has a long road to recovery, the family has received an overwhelming amount of support, “it’s truly heartwarming to see that there are people that care and they don’t know us but they care.”

A gofundme has been created.

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