Rescuer of Child Wears Hero’s Mantle

The mantle of hero is one that many heroes shun. They view what they did, no matter how extraordinary, as something that had to be done, that anyone else would have done if they had been in the same circumstance. Gregory Ysais, 36, of Mission Viejo, fits that mold.

Ysais was hiking in Caspers Park with his wife and daughter last Sunday when he heard a woman call for help. Without hesitation, Ysais ran toward the screams and came upon Susan Small of El Toro, who told him a mountain lion had carried off her daughter, Laura. Ysais took off into the thick brush after the cat. He found the beast with the 5-year-old child clasped firmly in its jaws. Ysais ripped a branch off a tree and prodded the wild cat until it loosened its grip, dropped the youngster and ran off.

“All I could think of was getting the child back,” he said afterward. He doesn’t see himself as a hero. But he is one. Just ask Laura and her parents.