A ten year old from Altoona falls through thin ice and her 12-year-old cousin saves her life.

Sunday, Molly Smoczyk ended up bundled in blankets and taking hot showers to get warm.
Monday, her family is thankful she's alive to tell her story.

“Bailey said to me, you can go first," Molly tells us.

Molly and her cousin, Bailey, were looking for an adventure when they set out from grandma's house on the Eau Claire River to explore a nearby island.

"To go across the lake to see deer," the ten year old says.

It's an expedition that didn't get too far.

"I put one foot down there and then the other. Then I just fell right in. It got up to my waist,” she says.

Molly says she was too frozen to move.

"Like I had all these little ice cubes in my pants," she says.

But Molly remembers her cousin's quick reaction.

"He screamed and then he put his hand out so I could grab it," Molly tells us.

At the top of the bank, back in the house, Charlene Helland heard the panic in their voices.

"We had no idea what the problem was," she says.

Charlene says she didn't think twice about letting the kids play on the frozen river.

"The deer were crossing the lake and the snowmobiles have been going there for months," she says.

"The hard part is there is no rule of thumb,” says DNR Recreational Safety Warden Bill Yearman. “Trucks may be out there, but there still might be open water right next to shore."

Yearman says that can make the ice especially dangerous when it comes to kids.

“They may see other people out there on parts of the ice that are safe so you want to watch them when they're around ice," Yearman says.

Charlene says in the future, keeping an eye on her grandkids won't be necessary.

"There will be no going on the lake here," she says.

But, Molly's family isn't likely to forget the one step that everyone agrees could've been her last.

"I was just shaking. I was scared,” Molly says.

Molly's cousin Bailey lives in Minnesota. Molly calls him a hero. Her family plans on letting his school know how he saved her life.