Little Hero Falls Ill Day After Saving Dad

A day after his 5-year-old son saved his life, Danny Stephen took him to Lowry Park Zoo for a celebratory outing.

The visit was cut short when Jude Stephen started feeling nauseous, so father and son went to the hospital.

"Now it's my turn to take care of him," Danny Stephen, 43, of St. Petersburg said Sunday night.

Stephen said his son may be feeling a case of delayed nerves because of what happened the day before.

On Saturday, as his diabetic father flitted in and out of consciousness due to dangerously low blood sugar levels, Jude instead displayed a steely resolve uncommon for a kindergarten student.

Danny Stephen had been unconscious since 10 a.m. Saturday in their home at 12th Avenue South. By dinner time, Jude was trying to wake him up because he was hungry, Stephens said.

"I literally just passed out," Stephen said. "I couldn't move. I couldn't talk. What came out was mumbo-jumbo."

Stephen said he mumbled the word "juice," and his son thought he was saying "Jude." Once the Bear Creek Elementary School student realized what was happening, he began to pour honey and juice into his father's mouth. Jude then hand-fed his father cupcakes.

"He knows my expressions when my sugar's low," said Stephen, who was diagnosed with diabetes on an Easter Sunday 26 years ago. "He saved my life. All I remember is sort of coming out of it."

Paramedics say that without Jude's quick thinking, his father may have died.

Stephen said that he lost his wife, Michelle, in September after she had a stroke a month before. Shortly after, Stephen was laid off from his construction job. Struggling to make ends meet, Stephen said he can barely afford the test strips used to check blood sugar levels.

"It's been one hurdle after another," Stephen said. "This little kid has been through so much. He's just a good, good little boy. He's a little hero."