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OUR HEROES
VICTORIA'S tiniest hero stole the show at the prestigious Pride of Australia awards on Monday.
Dressed neatly in her school uniform, Lilian Bell-Tanner received rapturous applause as she was named one of Victoria's most extraordinary citizens.
The six-year-old won the Child of Courage section, after saving her mother's life.
The quick-thinking prep was at home when her mother Natalie suffered a severe asthma attack.
As her mother lay on the floor, unable to breathe or move, Lilian tried to get a ventilator, before phoning her dad. "When I picked up the phone, Lily said, `Mummy can't talk or breathe. Can you come home, please'?" dad Matthew Tanner said.
"I got the ambulance to call Lily and they talked her through what to do. She was so calm. She helped her mum, opened the front door and waved the ambulance officers inside."
Her father was moved to tears as Lilian received her sterling silver medal and said she still had no idea of the magnitude of her actions.
After eagerly waiting to receive the microphone to address the crowd, Lilian simply said, "Thank you everybody."
And there was not a dry eye in the house as courage winner Michelle Errichiello received her medal.
Ms Errichiello thanked her hero Ben Russell -- who won the Heroism award -- for saving her life.
"If it weren't for him I wouldn't be here," Ms Errichiello said.
In 2007 Ms Errichiello was left an amputee, after a car accident outside her workplace. A trip to put out the rubbish ended in 13 hours of surgery, after an uncontrolled car jumped the kerb and slammed her into a brick wall.
Off-duty fireman Ben Russell was nearby, and clamped the femoral artery of her severed leg, to minimise the bleeding -- a move that unquestionably saved her life.
Ms Errichiello has become one of Australia's top sprinting hopes for the 2012 London Paralympic Games.
Brighton East teenager Samuel Porter spoke of his love of Australia, as he was presented with the award for Outstanding Bravery.
Samuel saved a teenager's life...