Her Son’s Memorial Life Ring Just Helped Save a Woman From a Lake

In 2022, a teenager in South Florida jumped into a lake to save a stranger, and he never came home. His mother made a promise that the next time someone was in trouble in the water, there would be something there to help.

Last week, in a quiet corner of Plantation, that promise was hanging on a post beside a lake when a car went into the water.

A Crash, Then the Water

It happened on a Monday morning near Northwest 55th Avenue in Plantation, Florida, WSVN 7News reported on Oct. 5.

According to Plantation Fire Rescue, a driver misjudged a turn and hit another car. Her vehicle kept going, through a line of bushes and straight into a lake.

“And that’s when she hit the gentleman that saved her, and she went through the bushes and into the water,” Plantation Fire Rescue spokesperson Kaitlin Murphins told the station.

Aerial video from the station’s helicopter later showed the car sitting in the lake.

The Man She Hit Jumped In

The other driver had every reason to stay put. His own car had just been struck. Instead, he got out and went into the water after the woman who had hit him.

He wasn’t the only one who stepped up. People nearby rushed over, and someone noticed a life preserver hanging close to the water.

“Other bystanders came by, and they grabbed a life preserver to throw into the water to assist them,” Murphins said.

Fire rescue crews arrived, checked on everyone, and pulled the car out of the lake. The driver was not hurt. The crash is still under investigation.

“It’s good to see good people help through a not-so-happy situation,” Murphins said.

The Boy Behind the Life Ring

That life preserver was not just any piece of safety equipment. It was part of a memorial to a teenager named Aden Perry.

In April 2022, Aden was 17 and a junior at Western High School in Davie. He was out walking the family dog with his mother one night in nearby Sunrise when they saw a car go into a lake, NBC 6 South Florida reported at the time.

Aden jumped in to try to save the 18-year-old driver. The medical examiner’s report later noted he reportedly did not know how to swim. Neither young man survived.

According to the foundation set up in his name, Aden was later honored with the Carnegie Medal, one of North America’s highest awards for civilian heroism.

A Mother’s Mission

His mother, Sarah Perry, remembers that there was nothing at the water’s edge that night that anyone could have thrown.

“That night there was nothing available. So, in his honor, I created the Aden Perry hero life ring to get life rings like this in bodies of water,” she told WSVN. “So next time there’s a water emergency, there is something available to use to save a life.”

Since then, her foundation has installed life rings carrying Aden’s picture and a hero message in city after city across Florida, at parks, lakes and university lakefronts. Its message is simple: “Throw, don’t go.” Throw something that floats, instead of putting another life at risk.

“We Saved a Life”

For Sarah Perry, this rescue was exactly what she had hoped for every time one of those rings went up.

“Everywhere there is a body of water, there is a potential for a water emergency, so this is so important,” she said. “This is a perfect example: a good Samaritan saw this, reacted, used a life ring, and we saved a life.”

A stranger who jumped in without thinking twice. Bystanders who didn’t just stand there. And a ring on a post, put there by a grieving mother so that the next family would get a different ending.

Aden never got to see the good his courage would do. But on a Monday morning in Plantation, a woman got to go home, and part of the reason was him.

If there’s a lake, canal or pond near you, take a moment to notice whether there’s a life ring nearby. And remember Sarah’s words: throw, don’t go.