text: A 5-year-old girl is being hailed as a hero after recently being caught on home surveillance footage saving her unconscious mother from the bottom of a swimming pool in Portland, Texas. 
   
   Tracy Anderwald, 34, told ABC News today that she and her daughter, Allison Anderwald, had been "enjoying a mommy-daughter day" in her sister's backyard pool Friday when she suddenly had a seizure, blacked out and sank 4 feet down to the pool's floor. 
   
   After Allison realized her mom had not come up from the water for over five minutes, she jumped in, pulled her mother to the shallow end of the pool and flipped her body over so her head wasn't in the water. 
   
   One of the mom’s sisters, Tedra Hunt, said she happened to be walking over to the house when little Allison ran to tell her what happened. Hunt said she immediately called 911 and emergency personnel then took Tracy to CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi-Memorial in Corpus Christi, Texas. 
   
   "The doctors explained to us that had Tracy been underwater any longer, she probably wouldn't be with us right now," Hunt, 32, said. "It is truly amazing that this little girl, who’s actually also pretty small for her age, was able to save my sister." 
   
   KIII 
   
   Hunt said doctors initially told her they had low expectations for Tracy's recovery and anticipated she might even have neurological damage. 
   
   But Tracy woke up Saturday morning and after a few tests and assessments, she was deemed OK for release Tuesday afternoon, Hunt said. 
   
   Courtesy Tracy Anderwald 
   
   Tracy will be soon following up with a neurologist to try and figure out what caused the seizure, she said, adding that she had never had one before. 
   
   "Tracy is my sister, best friend, my whole world," Hunt said of her sister. "We lost our dad almost exactly two years ago, and it was so hard to overcome that. I don't know what I would have done if I lost Tracy that day." 
   
   Courtesy Tracy Anderwald 
   
   Hunt added she believed their father was a "guardian angel" watching over them that day and that he guided Allison to help save Tracy. 
   
   Now, Hunt and Tracy said they hope their story helps raise awareness for the importance of teaching kids how to swim and what to do in an emergency at an early age. 
   
   "Allison's been swimming since she was two-and-a-half," Tracy said. "She's our little mermaid and my little hero." ||||| GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Allison Anderwald, 5, smiles as her mother Tracy talks about how much she likes to swim Tuesday, March 23, 2016, at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial in Corpus Christi. Allison saved her mother after she suffered from a seizure in the pool at their home. 
   
   SHARE GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Allison Anderwald, 5, (center) looks at her dad Ryan as he talks with her and her mother Tracy on Tuesday, March 23, 2016, at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial in Corpus Christi. Allison saved her mother after she suffered from a seizure in the pool at their home. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Allison Anderwald, 5, talks to her mothers friend Amber Blimline on Tuesday, March 23, 2016, at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial in Corpus Christi. Allison saved her mother after she suffered from a seizure in the pool at their home. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Ryan Anderwald hugs his daughter Allison, 5, (center) as they sit with her mother Tracy on Tuesday, March 23, 2016, at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial in Corpus Christi. Allison saved her mother after she suffered from a seizure in the pool at their home. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Tracy Anderwald talks about how her daughter Allison Anderwald, 5, enjoys swimming Tuesday, March 23, 2016, at Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial in Corpus Christi. Allison saved her mother after she suffered from a seizure in the pool at their home. 
   
   By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times 
   
   It was supposed to be just like any other day. Tracy Anderwald and her daughter, 5-year-old Allison, were swimming in the backyard pool of their home on the outskirts of Portland on Friday. They were having fun splashing around and playing Marco Polo. 
   
   All of a sudden, Tracy Anderwald blacked out. She woke up in Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial. 
   
   "I did not know where I was," Anderwald said. "They did not tell me (what happened) for a while." 
   
   Her sister, Tedra Hunt, finally did when Tracy recovered. Allison was the one to thank. 
   
   With the shy blond girl in her mother's arms, Tracy Anderwald recounted Allison's heroic actions from her hospital room Tuesday. 
   
   When Tracy Anderwald fell to the bottom of the pool, Allison knew something was wrong. She swam to the bottom, pulled her mother to the shallow end and lifted her head above water. 
   
   "It's amazing that she even knew what to do," Anderwald said. 
   
   Hunt, who happened to be walking over to the house, heard Allison and her siblings screaming for help and immediately called 911. 
   
   "Allison was very calm through it. She was trying to tell me what happened," Hunt said. 
   
   Tracy Anderwald described Allison affectionately as a "water bug" who learned how to swim before she was 3. Allison didn't know her mom suffered a seizure, but because she was taught water safety, she knew Tracy Anderwald was underwater for too long. 
   
   "I believe (Allison) had a greater power telling her what to do," Hunt said. "It's a miracle ... she knew how to react."
target: – Last Friday was a normal "mommy-daughter" day for Tracy Anderwald and her 5-year-old daughter, Allison. The two were playing Marco Polo in a backyard pool in Portland, Texas, but the next thing Anderwald knew, she was waking up in a nearby hospital without a clue as to how she got there, reports the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Home surveillance footage on YouTube and the shy voice of little Allison tell the story of a close call—Anderwald had suffered a seizure in four feet of water and, after a few minutes lying motionless on the bottom of the pool, Allison knew it had been too long and dragged her mother to the shallow end, where she rolled her body over. Anderwald's sister, Tedra Hunt, was walking to the house as Allison pulled her mother to the shallow end, and footage shows the girl running for help as soon as her mother's face was out of the water. "The doctors explained to us that had Tracy been underwater any longer, she probably wouldn't be with us right now," Hunt, 32, tells ABC News. "It is truly amazing that this little girl, who’s actually also pretty small for her age, was able to save my sister." Hunt says their father, who died two years ago, was a "guardian angel;" Anderwald, 34, will undergo neurological tests to figure out what caused the seizure, which she'd never had before. The sisters are sharing their story in the hopes of demonstrating the importance of teaching children to swim. Allison, their "little mermaid" and "little hero," has been swimming since she was a toddler. (This skilled Dartmouth swimmer drowned.)