Hanna Pignato has been identified as the 19-year-old Daytona Beach, Florida waitress who jumped off a 20-foot pier to save a young drowning child.
According to reports, Pignato jumped off the Main Street Pier in Daytona Beach, Florida, on the night of Saturday, April 13, when she saw a mother struggling to rescue her young son from the ocean’s powerful riptide.
Speaking to WESH 2 News, Pignato said she could “hear the fear in her [the mother’s] eyes”, which is why she ultimately decided to take action.
“She was screaming bloody Mary, like, just screaming, like, I could just hear the fear in her eyes,. And I was scared. Everybody was scared,” Pignato said.
After jumping, Pignato — who was waitressing on the roof at nearby Joe’s Crab Shack on the Main Street Pier — landed on a sandbar, causing her injuries. Thankfully, both she and the young boy were rescued and survived.
As a result of her heroic jump, Piganto fractured her back in three different places and the heel of her foot and is now struggling to pay her medical bills because she does not have health insurance.
A GoFundMe fundraiser page created for Pignato has raised over $17,000 at the time of this writing. The GoFundMe’s fundraising goal has been set at $75,000 to help Pignato pay her medical bills.
Following her brave actions, Pignato has been hailed as a hero on social media for her selfless act and quick thinking.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Ms. Pignato during this time and we wish her a speedy recovery.
That is all the information that is available at this time. This article will be updated with new and relevant information should it become available at any time. If there is anything that we missed, please feel free to send an email to editor@teamcoed.com and we will respond as soon as possible.
