“We didn’t talk about it much at her funeral. There were only…

"We didn't talk about it much at her funeral. There were only about thirty of us there, and we all knew the story already. But we did place her Star of Courage on the coffin. It's the second highest civilian honor in Australia, and its awarded for bravery. But my mum was no daredevil, believe me. She wasn't the kind of person who would jump out of an airplane, or anything like that. And she had a terrible fear of spiders. After everything went down, she told us: 'If it had been a spider, you'd have been on your own.' She was already sixty years old when it happened. We were camping on a beach in a remote area of Queensland. The night was pitch black. There wasn't even a moon. And we woke up at 4 AM to the sound of blood curdling screams. I immediately grabbed my gun and ran out into the dark. Mum and Dad were coming out of their tent at the same time, but none of us could see what was happening. Then somebody clicked on a flashlight and everyone saw it at the same time. A 14 foot crocodile was dragging our friend by the leg, trying to pull him into the ocean. Dad ran back toward his tent to grab an axe. And I reached for my gun, but I never even had a chance to aim. Because Mum jumped right onto the crocodile's back. He began thrashing violently and threw my mum on the ground, then he turned around and bit a huge chunk out of her arm. That's when I ran over and put two bullets into the back of his head. It was over in a split second. Mum was airlifted to the hospital, and ever since that day she was known as The Croc Granny. She got to meet Steve Irwin. She made a few TV appearances. And at first she seemed embarrassed by all the attention, but over time I think she began to enjoy it. A local museum reconstructed the skull of the crocodile, and presented it to her as a gift. She hung it on the wall of the living room. Right by the television set. And that's where it stayed for the rest of her life."

Source: humansofnewyork.com