A Killeen family is raising money to give back to a California man who they say saved their 10-year-old daughter from drowning.
Samantha Whiting says she was at a Monterey beach with her children and mom when a riptide took her oldest daughter out far in the ocean, according to her GoFundMe page.
"I swam as hard as I could to her but underestimated the current, I had her on my back but it was slowly taking both of us down," Whiting says.
The Killeen woman says she yelled for help and a man by the name of Kevin Cozzi swam out and grabbed her daughter.
"If it wasn’t for him risking his life in such a selfless act I would have lost not only my own life but my baby girl," she said on the fundraiser page.
Samantha had been searching for Cozzi before she recently posted in a Merced Neighborhood Watch Facebook group, where she explained what happened on Aug. 15 and asked if anyone could help her find the hero, according to KFSN.
Within hours they reconnected.
Whiting is now raising money for Kevin and his fiance to have their dream wedding and honeymoon as an act of appreciation with a GoFundMe named "A hero named Kevin."
The couple had to cancel their big day due to the pandemic, KFSN reports.
The fundraiser has raised over its $20,000 goal in just 5 days and can be found here.
