A man fainted while driving. His 11-year-old grandson took the wheel

An 11-year-old boy in Georgia is being hailed as a hero for steering a car to safety after its driver experienced a medical emergency.

“He’s an extraordinary young man,” a spokesperson for the Gordon County Sheriff’s Office tells TODAY.com. “Very intelligent and mature for his age.”

Drake Linn was riding in the passenger seat of his grandfather Hugh Cox’s pickup truck on July 15, when suddenly Cox, 68, fell unconscious, the Washington Post reported.

Cox is an insulin-dependent diabetic and his glucose-monitoring device had stopped working the night before, according to the newspaper. As a result Cox didn't realize his blood sugar had dropped, and he went into a diabetic coma while driving 70 mph on a highway. 

Posted by Gordon County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday, July 17, 2024Sheriff Recognizes Youngster For Lifesaving After Grandfather Suffers Medical Emergency While Driving on Interstate...

“I didn’t know what was going on, and I was scared,” Drake told the newspaper.

But he didn’t panic. Using his grandfather’s cellphone, Drake called his mother, Jessica Linn, who instructed him to climb onto his grandfather's lap in the driver’s seat and guide the car to the shoulder of the road. 

Jessica told the Washington Post that her son drives golf carts and ATVs on their farm in Calhoun, Georgia. But could he handle a truck that was towing a boat?

“I felt like that was probably the last time I was going to hear his voice,” Jessica said. “It was just the most desperate and out-of-control feeling.”

Once Drake had maneuvered the vehicle to safety, he dialed 911, and “provided precise information for first responds,” the Gordon County Sheriff’s Office wrote on its Facebook page. 

“My papa is a diabetic,” Drake told a dispatcher, per The Washington Post. “I pulled him over on the ride of the road… we are right at Exit 320.”

“I’m really scared,” he added, tearfully. “I don’t want him to die.”

Help arrived and Cox was stable within 20 minutes, the Washington Post reported. 

“My own child saved my own parent,” Jessica said. “It made my heart swell.”

To honor his bravery, the Gordon County Sheriff's Office presented Drake with a Citizen Service Award, an Atlanta Braves cap and shirt, and four tickets to a Braves game.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com