Gretchen Mollenhour

Kali Justice, right, recalls the day earlier this month that she saved the life of her grandmother Linda Long, left. ‘I thought she was sick or maybe dying or something,’ Kali said.

Kali Justice noticed her grandmother wasn’t moving. All alone, the 6- year-old stood over Linda Long’s body screaming, hoping someone would hear her.

Ms. Long thanks God someone did. Her granddaughter’s actions helped avert tragedy on a birthday camping trip.

“If it wasn’t for her . . . the doctors said 10 or 15 minutes later I’d a been dead,” she said through tears. “So she’s my little hero.”

Ms. Long remembers arriving at Lewis and Clark State Park and unpacking on Aug. 8. The rest, she said, is blank.

Kali and a team of doctors have since put together the pieces for her.

A full-blown seizure left Ms. Long unconscious and calls and shakes from Kali went unanswered. Ms. Long said that an allergic reaction to a new medicine might have triggered the seizure.

“I tried to wake her up but she wouldn’t wake up,” Kali said.

An anonymous camper heard the kindergartner’s cries and came to her aid.

“She came and dialed 911,” Kali said of the camper. Ms. Long was then flown in a Life Flight helicopter to St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City.

There, Ms. Long laid in the intensive care unit for more than a week in a medically induced coma.

“My mind is still fuzzy and my memory is bad,” she said.

With a limp, two arm braces and a walker, Ms. Long said rehab has been slow. She yearns to get back to her volunteer work in the community.

The St. Joseph woman uses a rescue dog, Sadie, because she’s had a stroke in the past. Ms. Long said she should have paid more attention to her dog the morning of her seizure. She said Sadie tried to warn her by acting out of character.

“She had tried to tell me that morning,” Ms. Long said.

Instead, Ms. Long’s youngest of six grandchildren saved her life. It’s an act she will never forget.

Jennifer Hall can be reached at

jennhall@npgco.com.