Rescuing a child: ‘I couldn’t see him go’

The adrenaline felt two years ago by a teenager when she saved a child from drowning in Saint-Elzéar, in Beauce, now pushes her to want a career in a profession “to help people”.

In April 2022, Ariel Cliche, who was only 13 years old, was playing with her dog Duster in a park near her home when the latter suddenly stopped playing. She was far from suspecting that her life was going to change.

Removing her headphones, the young girl then heard children screaming in the direction of the Savoie River, whose water level was extraordinary after the melting of the ice and several consecutive days of rain.

“There was a little boy of 6 or 7 years old who had fallen into the water and was trying to hold on to a branch. I couldn’t see him leave, I would have been traumatized for the rest of my life,” confides the teenager, met by The Journal.

Quickly tying her dog to a tree, she climbed onto a branch that hung over the river to grab the boy’s hood and pull him back to safety.

“I could have died”

Even though the branch she was on finally gave way under their weight, the teenager managed, despite the strong current, to pull the completely frozen child to the bank.

“Before running home with the other young people, the little one said to me: “You saved my life. I could have died!”, recalls Ariel Cliche, now 15 years old.

The mother of the good Samaritan, Nancy Lachance, wrote a post on social networks in the following days, to ensure that the child was doing well. That’s when the news spread around the region.

So much so that in the year that followed, fences were installed by the municipality of Saint-Elzéar to reduce accessibility to the river.

“We are really proud of her. It shows that we instilled good values ​​in him,” says M^me Lachance.

Several honors

Since then, the teenager has received no less than seven decorations from the government, organizations, municipalities or the Sûreté du Québec for her act of bravery.

Last September, she had the honor of receiving the civic medal from the government of Quebec. She thus became the youngest recipient of this distinction since its creation in 1977.

“Before, I wanted to work in aesthetics. But since this event, everything has changed. I want to do a job that will help people, have an impact in their lives,” says Ariel Cliche.

Next February, she will fly to Guatemala on a humanitarian aid trip organized by her school.