Girl, 2, saves her mother

In a military town filled with heroes, Alana Miller has the distinction of being the smallest of them all.

The 2-year-old girl is also on her way to becoming a miniature celebrity.

Oak Harbor High School swim coach Erika Miller came home to her family’s house on the Seaplane Base last Thursday night with a migraine headache. She got up from the couch to make sure a door to the garage was locked. She fainted in the hallway, knocking her head on the floor.

The precocious toddler sprang into action. She picked up the phone and dialed 911. She told the dispatcher in her tiny voice: “Mama owie, mama owie.”

She then fetched a blanket and a teddy bear for her shivering mother.

When Navy security knocked, Alana went to the door and let them in, somehow opening the deadbolt that her parents thought was out of her reach. Then she went over and sat next to her mom, rubbing her on the back.

“She was real calm,” Erika said. “She wasn’t crying or screaming or getting in the way.”

An ambulance took Erika, who was starting to wake up, to Whidbey General Hospital. She underwent a CT scan and other tests, but the doctor ultimately found that a simple migraine likely caused her to lose consciousness.

Erika was flabbergasted when she found out what her daughter had done for her.

“She is incredible,” she said. “That she had the fortitude to do this is just amazing to me. She’s just a little 2-year-old.”

But she’s definitely a very smart little 2-year-old. Erika said she’s not exactly sure where Alana learned to call 911. She had shown her daughter how to dial the emergency number on her play phone a few months ago, telling her it was “for big, big owies.”

Also, Erika just happens to be a volunteer instructor, trainer and board member for the Island County Chapter of the American Red Cross. Since her daughter often went with her to classes, Erika surmised that she may have picked up on some of the information.

“It goes to show that a child may not have the vocabulary of an adult, but it’s not as if she isn’t learning,” she said. “Parents may think their child is too little to pick up on this or that, but it’s not true.”

Alana’s heroics were recently featured on KOMO TV. Other TV reporters, including a national news organization, have also contacted the Millers and others involved.

Erika’s husband, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jesse Miller, was equally amazed and amused by his daughter’s actions. But at the same time, the parents say their Alana has always been advanced in her development. She started walking and talking early. She’s very coordinated and observant of the world around her.

She’s also bilingual since her mother is teaching her German.

“It makes my husband crazy when we speak German to each other,” Erika said with a laugh.

But mostly, Alana is just a typical, happy toddler who loves her mama.

“One day she is saving my life, the next day she is coloring on my walls,” Erika said.