4-Year-Old Boy Uses Computer Tablet To Save Mother's Life

NORWICH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork)-- A young boy in upstate New York used a computer tablet to help save his mother's life.

Four-year-old Chadwick DePew loves using tablets, mainly to play games. But the little boy's touch-screen technology knowledge led to something much more important last week.

Chadwick's mother was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 6 years old. The disease causes serious threats when her blood sugar gets too low.

"I was talking to my mom on the cell phone and she heard me starting to slur my speech and I started feeling a little sleepy," Alice DePew told CBS2's Valerie Castro.

Soon after that, she went unconscious. Alice's mother, who was in North Carolina, called Alice's husband Stanley, who was working at the time. Stanley tried calling the house phone and got no answer. That's when he called the tablet, and guess who answered?

"Daddy was calling me. And when I saw that green button, I pushed it. And had a cell phone on it," Chadwick said.

A common complaint of touch-screen technologies like tablets and smartphones is that today's youth are getting too attached to them. However, in this instance, a child's proficiency in technology saved his mother's life.

"I think that him using the tablet is the reason why she's still with us today. I had no idea he knew how to unlock the tablet to even get on Facetime. That was the first time ever," Stanley said. "This is a scary situation in general and it just puts me a little bit more at ease know that if something were to happen, at least I can rely on my son."