THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505040023
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K3 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: THUMBS UP
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
LIKE MOST PARENTS, Robert Levin of Norfolk wondered if his talks on safety were really getting through to his 5-year-old daughter, Missy.
Recently, Levin discovered Missy had been listening far more intently than he had realized.
Missy and her grandmother, Hilda Levin, took a walk through their Ocean View neighborhood to visit some friends. Missy rode her bike, and Hilda, who was baby-sitting her, walked alongside.
After a couple of blocks, 63-year-old Hilda began to feel faint. As the two approached a concrete driveway, Hilda realized she could not go on. Grabbing onto a nearby pole for support, she told her granddaughter she had to stop.
A few seconds later, Hilda passed out, fell to the ground and hit her head on the pavement. Seeing Hilda splayed across the driveway, out cold, Missy began to cry and beg her grandma to wake up.
When she didn't, Missy remembered what her dad had always told her: Get help.
Missy ran to a nearby apartment and asked the residents to call 911. Within minutes, a rescue squad came to Hilda's aid.
``None of us had any idea that she knew enough to do this,'' said Hilda, who two weeks later was still recovering from surgery. ``I'm just so proud of her.''
A little shy from all the attention, Missy held tight to a stuffed Barney and explained, ``My Daddy told me to do something if something happened. I tried not to cry . . . but I was so scared. Grandma is my best friend.''
During the last six months, Grandma and Missy have been inseparable. After a recent divorce and bankruptcy, Robert Levin lost his Virginia Beach home and moved with Missy into an Ocean View duplex downstairs from his parents.
When not working as a vendor for the Navy Exchange system, Hilda cares for her granddaughter. During the day, the two play games, take walks, draw pictures and watch ``Barney,'' Missy's favorite TV show.
``We have lots of fun,'' said Missy, who has brown eyes and shoulder-length hair.
The two of them, says Missy's dad, have a special relationship.
In the weeks before she fell and passed out, Hilda had not been feeling well. She had been scheduled for an outpatient colonoscopy. After she fell, doctors discovered she had contracted pneumonia and hospitalized her immediately. She had surgery a week later.
``I had no idea I was sick,'' said Hilda. ``The doctors said I was bleeding internally when I passed out. All I remember is that when I came to the neighbors were telling me Missy had said to call for help.''
When Hilda's husband, Kenneth Levin, found out what his granddaughter had done, he was relieved but not that surprised. Neither were family friends.
``This kid's got a heart and a half,'' family friend Scott Hessek said. ``At Hanukkah last year, she even volunteered to give away her favorite rocking horse to a friend's kid because he was having money problems. Now, remember, Missy didn't have a whole lot, either.''
In Grandma's eyes, though, Missy will always be her lifesaver.
``She really came through,'' said Missy's grandmother. ``I'm not sure if I take care of her or she takes care of me. I just know we're a team.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
JIM WALKER/Staff
Melissa Levin, 5, didn't panic when her grandmother Hilda Levin
passed out on the street. She remembered what her father had told
her: Get help.
by CNB