A hike in the woods after seven months of cancer treatments turned Lelania Chapman into an unlikely hero and helped her realize she is more resilient than she imagined. “I’ve never been in a situation like that before and you never know what you are going to be like,” she told TODAY. “No matter what, you are a lot stronger than you think you are.” During radiation treatment, Chapman only left her home to go to the doctor. After her final treatment, she decided to take her son and three of the neighborhood children on a waterfall hike near her home in Maple Ridge, outside Vancouver, Canada. Even though treatment had ended, she had received bad news. Doctors found more tumors; her cancer had spread. Instead of focusing on that, she decided to show her 9-year-old son something she enjoyed from her childhood. Related: 'My job is to take care of them.' Hero daycare worker speaks up after assault The group settled by the falls when 11-year-old Lily Barber asked if anyone heard shouting.

The falls roared so loudly, Chapman didn’t, at first. But then she thought perhaps she did hear someone crying out. They walked toward the falls and Chapman spotted four teenage boys, trapped on a rock by the falls. Their lips were purple from cold. The 43-year-old mom attempted to call for help, but she had no cell signal. Related: 'Hero' bus driver sacrifices life to save 10-year-old student As she started to walk back to her truck for cell service, she heard one boy cry, “I just want my mom." She knew she couldn’t leave them. “Some people say it’s a mother’s instinct,” she said. She grabbed a blue rope from her backpack and climbed down the ravine to get closer to the teenagers. They had a long rope they threw to her; she tied it around the biggest tree she could find, wrapped it around her waist, and tossed it back to the teens. The biggest boy, who is about 6 feet tall and 160 pounds, decided to climb up first to help her rescue the others.

The 5-foot-3 Chapman — who lost weight during radiation and could barely lift a watermelon — managed to pull him up.backpack lavoie “I don’t know how I picked him up by myself,” she said. backpack bukkit“I don’t really know to this day.”neff backpack downtown She and the teen hauled two more boys up the cliff. backpack starter syllabusShe bashed her knee; puma apex laptop backpacksome of her radiation burns and scars from surgery tore open, but she kept working.backpack etno

Only one boy, the smallest, remained on the cliff. wanderpacks laptop backpack with wheelshe thought the rope might break. Chapman laid on her belly and slithered over to the edge (she couldn’t crawl because of her injured knee) to talk to him. She asked his name: It was Cody, the same as her 25-year-old son. He told her he was going to jump. Related: Teen saves father's life with CPR — 2 days before he was set to take CPR classes “I told him it wasn’t a good idea and if he jumped, I would have to jump, and he just really needed to trust me,” she said. He finally grabbed the rope; everyone felt so exhausted that pulling up Cody took much longer. But he finally arrived on top, safe, aside from bruises and cuts. They walked to the parking lot where Chapman bandaged them and called their mothers. As Chapman made dinner later that day, 7-year-old Violet Barber summed up the day's events with a phrase that has become Chapman's new inspirational mantra.

“Yep, that’s just what we do. We fight cancer and save boys.” Chapman still has more cancer fight ahead. But his mother's heroics that day changed something for her 9-tear-old son, Gwindin. He’s no longer scared. “He said ‘You know what, mom? You are going to [beat] cancer because you are the strongest mom around,’” she said. “That is probably one of the most important lessons that I learned that day. I do have the strength.” The Barber family set up a Go Fund Me for Chapman, who will likely need ongoing treatment.SPRING VALLEY — Three men and a boy were in custody Monday following a home invasion robbery and short pursuit, authorities said. A possible residential burglary in progress was reported at 11:22 a.m. Sunday at 5902 San Miguel Road in Bonita, San Diego sheriff’s Sgt. Luis Chavez said. The suspects fled the scene in a black Ford Focus and a witness followed them until a San Diego sheriff’s helicopter and deputies on the ground took over, Chavez said.

During the pursuit, the father of a victim called the sheriff’s department to report the suspects robbed his daughter while she was inside the residence and that one suspect was armed with a handgun, the sergeant said. The vehicle exited onto Jamacha Boulevard from the 125 Freeway in Spring Valley and would not pull over when a deputy approached with red light and siren on, Chavez said. The pursuit ended in the Spring Valley Swap Meet parking lot, in the 6370 block of Quarry Road, he said. The vehicle stopped and three men ran away while the 17-year-old boy remained in the vehicle and was taken into custody, Chavez said. The three men were captured shortly thereafter, he said. The adult suspects were identified as Michael Ricks, 19, Parris Murrelle, 18, and Zindel Johnson, 18. A loaded handgun was found inside a backpack carried by one of the suspects. All four suspects were booked for suspicion of armed robbery, conspiracy and burglary, Chavez said.Get Daily Dallas News HeadlinesSign Up