Hero mom saves son from burning building, says ‘I’m just Cameron’s mom’

A mother who jumped from a second-story balcony with her son in her arms to escape a fire is being hailed a hero.

A title she doesn’t think she should have.

“I don’t think that I’m any special hero at all,” Christina Simoes told CBS Boston. “I’m just Cameron’s mom.”

Simoes and her 18-month-old son Cameron were laying in bed last week in their Haverhill, Mass., apartment when she saw smoke in her window. After jumping up and noticing the fire in the building was spreading quickly, she knew she had only one option.

“I just knew we were either going to die or we were going to get out of there,” Simoes told WCVB. “Once I got to the window and looked down and I knew what I had to do.”

The fall left Simoes with a broken vertebrae and other serious injuries, while her son suffered minor injuries.

“I broke my vertebrae in my back so now I don’t have feelings in my legs,” Simone told CBS Boston.

Despite her injuries, and the possibility she may never walk again, according to ABC News, Simoes says it was all worth it.

“All the pain, all of this that I’m going to go through is worth it to see him run around and play,” Simoes told ABC News. “We lost everything but that doesn’t matter to me because I have all that matters.”

Simoes spent Mother’s Day holding her son in her hospital bed and thankful he survived the fall.

“I’m having a good day,” she told CBS Boston. “My whole family is here, my son is here. It’s magical, I mean there’s nothing that feels better than having everybody here with me.”

According to WCVB, a GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family.

Contact Kira Terry at kterry@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @kiraterry