PIERCE COUNTY, WA (KIRO/CNN) - A toddler was saved by his quick-thinking mom and sister after he fell deep into a septic tank on Wednesday.
Thorin Hess nearly drowned in several feet of raw sewage. His 12-year-old sister Madi saw him fall through a loose lid into his grandparent's septic tank.
"I just see him step onto it and he was like - it was like a flash. It was like a flash. He just goes straight down and I started screaming," Madi said.
Thorin was completely submerged in sewage. The tank was only lit by daylight from the hole above him.
In a panic, his mother grabbed a shovel, desperate to reach him.
"I couldn't find him, so I just put the shovel back down in the water, trying to find him again, and the shovel grabbed a hold of his foot. And so I pulled him up to the top," Marcia Hess said
"So I had to grab his foot, but then his shoe slipped off, of course. So he fell back down," Madi said
"I could see him dying, and so I just called out to God, just praying. I was like, 'Get me down there. Get me to my son,'" Hess said.
So the mom started trying to squeeze her body through the narrow hole to find her son.
"It was a really small hole. She doesn't even know how she got down," Madi said.
"Arms went up - I mean, it took my shirt and my bra with it. It was such a tight space," Hess said.
The mother, who was bruised, cut, bleeding and scraped, found Thorin, who was limp and not breathing, and she raised him up to his sister, "having to take your - presuming that your child is dead and pass him through a hole - to a 12-year-old scared little girl."
"I didn't even know what to do," Madi said.
"I remember just asking her - 'Please Madi! Please save him! Please save him, Madi!'" Hess said.
"Like, God took my hands and just did it for me," Madi said. She started chest compressions, guided by a 911 dispatcher, hoping for any sign of life.
"So I just put my palm on his chest, and I just pressed really hard per second,” Madi said. “When I got back on the phone, I was like, 'Okay, what do I do now?' Then he (the 911 dispatcher) just said keep doing what you're doing, and so I did. And then Thorin started gurgling, and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, he's still alive!'" Madi said.
Doctors were worried Thorin might have infections from breathing and swallowing sewage. But they say he's doing fine, and he's been released from the hospital.
The family is getting a new lid for the septic access port as a safety precaution.
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