A New Hyde Park Cub Scout who suffers from a serious neurological disorder was awarded the Boy Scouts of America national Medal of Heroism last week for saving his four-year-old sister’s life last summer.
Sean Nidermaier, a 10-year-old fifth grader at the Notre Dame School in New Hyde Park, received the award at the roundtable meeting of the county Theodore Roosevelt Council amid applause from Boy Scout leaders, Boys Scouts and fellow Cub Scouts from his den.
“It feels good,” said Sean, a Cub Scout since first grade who is about to become a Boy Scout in Troop 544 at Notre Dame.
Sean said it was “exciting” and he felt “proud” to win the award.
Sean had accompanied his family in Connecticut to watch his older sister Emma playing with the New Hyde Park Girls All-Star Softball team in the Easter Regional Tournament last July.
The family was leaving the pool area of the hotel where they were staying when Sean saw his sister Brady jump into the pool.
“The next thing I know, Sean goes sprinting past me and he grabbed Brady from the bottom of the pool,” his father Scott recalled.
Scott Nidermaier said he was in the lobby doorway leading to the pool and thought all the children were out of the pool and accounted for.
Sean said he had seen where his sister had landed in the pool.
“I saw her before she went down,” Sean said.
He said it was “a little difficult” bringing his sister up from the bottom of the pool, but he was relieved when he managed to lift her onto the side of the pool.
“He went in and got her, brought her up to the side of the pool and she coughed up some water,” his father said.
Scott Nidermaier told Sean’s den leader, Elizabeth Castelli, about the incident and she researched an award that would be appropriate for what Sean did.
To earn the Medal of Heroism, a scout must save a life or attempt to save a life with little or no risk to himself.
Castelli hand-delivered the application form Sean’s father filled out to the county Boy Scout council in September. The council reviewed the application and passed it on to national Boy Scouts of America headquarters, which issued the award.
Castelli said it was the first time a Boy Scout or Cub Scout in Nassau County has ever won the award, which was first given in 1923.
Sean had taken an aquanauts course in water safety with other members of his den last December, according to Castelli. She said he also passed the Boy Scouts of America swimming test, which requires a scout to demonstrate the ability to do more than one swimming stroke over a distance of 100 yards.
So when his sister was in that pool, he knew he could act without putting his own life at serious risk, she said.
“We went over several rescue methods. I think he just remembered all that and reacted,” she said.
But she also said that Sean Nidermaier is an exceptional young man.
“He’s just a wonderful child. I wasn’t surprised at what he did. He does everything out of his good heart,” Castelli said.
Next month, on Superbowl Sunday, Sean will be taking a much colder plunge in Long Beach an annual event to help raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“Sean’s got a team going with a couple of his buddies,” said his father, who will also be diving in.
This will be third year Sean has joined the Long Island Polar Bears at the annual fundraiser for Make-A-Wish. Last year Sean and his team of family members and friends raised $2,000 from sponsors supporting their cold water heroics and Scott Nidermaier said his is hoping to top that this year.
Sean suffers from a serious neurological disorder and had been a beneficiary of Make-A-Wish, which gave him and his family a trip to Disney World four years ago.
Sean decided he wanted to give something back, and the Polar Bear plunge was his idea of how to do that.
He will also become a Boy Scout next month. And the young hero has a high-minded goal for his scouting future.
“I’m definitely going for Eagle,” he said.
