She jumped into the Delaware River to save a girl. She never came home

⚡Priscila Santos died after jumping into the Delaware River to save a struggling girl

⚡The Delran mother leaves behind two children, ages 3 and 9

⚡A GoFundMe campaign is raising money for her funeral and children's future.

DELRAN — The woman who rescued a girl from the Delaware River would have celebrated her 34th birthday Tuesday. Instead, her family is raising money to help care for the two children she left behind.

Priscila Alvares Pereira Dos Santos of Delran noticed the girl struggling in the Delaware River at Amico Island Park Monday afternoon and jumped into the water to help her. Bystanders pulled the girl onto shore, but Santos went under the water and did not resurface. After a search by first responders and drones, she was found Tuesday morning about 20 feet away at a beach.

"Priscila died a hero. She saved a little girl," Delran Police Chief Matt Gasper told Fox Philadelphia.

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Priscila Alvares Pereira Dos Santos of Delran

Santos left behind two young children

According to a GoFundMe campaign, Santos came to the U.S. from Brazil and was married to her husband, Alex. They have two children, ages 3 and 9, and Santos played a key role in raising their autistic son.

"Priscila was a loving and devoted mother, a wife, a woman of faith, a loyal friend, and someone who worked incredibly hard for her family," the administrator of the fund wrote. "Friends remember Priscila as joyful, strong, generous and always willing to help someone with her words, her time or her actions."

Santos cleaned houses, according to the administrator. Donations will go toward funeral and memorial expenses, child care and long-term financial stability for both children.

"Priscila’s final act was helping another child make it safely back to her family. We are asking the community to now help protect the future of the two children Priscila could not return home to," the administrator wrote.

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