There’s been a lot of criticism of women lately, and with good reason. Many of my fellow females haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory with the Lindsay Clancy trial. But instead of talking about her, I want to talk about Bonnie Pierce of St. Paul, Minnesota and Emma Schols of Sweden.
On August 22, a fire broke out in the duplex and one of Pierce’s daughters was able to escape by kicking out a window air conditioning unit and climbing to safety. But then Pierce realized her toddler, Grace, was still in the house. Pierce ran back inside.
Firefighters entered the home and found Bonnie Pierce shielding Grace with her own body. Pierce suffered burns on 48 percent of her body and — despite being rushed to the hospital — succumbed to her injuries. She was 38 years old.
Grace is expected to make a full recovery.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Recommended
Hero mom dies after rushing back into burning home to save her daughter’s life https://t.co/BgjYNCEGjU pic.twitter.com/z9t2k7Qp3e
— New York Post (@nypost) August 27, 2026
Family set up a GoFundMe for Pierce, which has done just a fraction of the fundraising that the one for Lindsay Clancy did. Right now, it sits at just over $156,000. That’s a vast improvement over the $7,500 in the campaign when The New York Post first reported on the story on August 27.
On September 3, 2019, Emma Schols was at home with her six children in Sweden when a fire broke out in their TV room early that morning. It spread quickly.
Can we give Lindsay Clancy’s money to Emma Schols?
Emma Schols, a Swedish mother, was 31 and alone with her six children when she woke to smoke and cries. The living room was ablaze. Barely clothed, she ran repeatedly into the flames to rescue every single child.
All six… pic.twitter.com/u2H4Y5F4ag
— Mike Kobe (Wild Horse) 🪶🇺🇸 (@Oklahoma_Brave) August 22, 2026
Alone, Schols planned to push two of the children out of the house, locking the front door so they couldn’t come back in. That’s when the explosion happened, and she shielded the boys. Once they were out, Schols had to go upstairs to get the other children. Three of them were able to escape, but the youngest, two-year-old Mollie, was still inside. Schols climbed the burning stairs and rescued Mollie from her crib. They then went back down the stairs. Rescue services removed her from the house and no one believed she would survive. Her back, hands, arms, legs, and chest had third-degree burns.
In 2020, actress Naya Rivera, best known for the show “Glee,” rented a pontoon boat and took her son, who was then four years old, swimming. The boat drifted and, with her last bit of strength, Rivera lifted her son onto the boat before slipping under the water.
Naya Rivera, best known for her role on Glee, drowned in July 2020 while boating with her four-year-old son at Lake Piru.
The two had been swimming when Rivera struggled to climb back onto the boat.
Investigators concluded she used her remaining strength to lift her son onto… pic.twitter.com/ugOKKTn3zE
— Tortured History (@TorturedHistory) January 15, 2026
She was 33 years old.
These are the kinds of mothers we should be rallying around. Despite the fear and tremendous pain, Bonnie Pierce used her body to protect her child and ended up giving her life so that Grace could live. Emma Schols ran into her burning house until 93 percent of her body was burned to save her six children. Naya Rivera used her last bit of strength to lift her son to safety. That is motherhood, in a nutshell. Perhaps for most mothers, it’s not that extreme, but I know I would die for my children, and I would do whatever it took to protect them from harm.
National Headline