A 13-year-old Perth boy said he didn't recognise Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan when he stepped in to help rush him to hospital after he stood on a stingray at a beach on the long weekend.

Brodie Hagstrom was on holidays with his mother Teneille and stepdad Chris Hill at Preston Beach, 130 kilometres south of Perth, when the agonising encounter happened.

The family had been fishing and swimming when Brodie rushed up to the beach, screaming in agony and not sure what had happened.

The McGowans — who have three young children and were also holidaying at Footprints resort — rushed to help, with the Premier handing over the keys to his car, so the family could rush Brodie to hospital.

Stingray pain horrific

Brodie described the pain from the stingray as "the worst pain I'd ever felt".

"I bolted out of the water … I'm screaming because I'm in so much in pain," he said.

He said his stepfather quickly identified he had been injured by a stingray.

The stingray the Hill family believe injured their son, Brodie. ( Supplied: Chris Hill )

It was then that the McGowan family stepped in, with Mr McGowan's wife Sarah coming over to see how they could help.

While the families had chatted around the pool earlier in the weekend, Brodie said he wasn't too sure exactly who Mr McGowan was.

"I was just like, who's this?" Brodie said.

"I only knew he was the Premier because Mum told me that's who he was.

"Because his wife spoke to us first and said his brother had got stung by a stingray, and had been in hospital for three weeks."

The Hill family knew their son needed urgent help but the family car's tyres were flat from driving along the beach.

Premier handed over car keys

Brodie's mother Teneille Hill said it was the McGowans who urged them to go straight to hospital, offering their car.

"Chris was starting to pump up his tyres because they were flat, but Mark said, 'No that will take too long, here take my car', and he ran back and got his keys … and we drove him to Harvey Hospital," Ms Hill said.

Ms Hill said Brodie was urging her to go faster as they rushed to hospital.

She said she then had to explain that wasn't possible as they were in the Premier's car.

"We told him in the car that that's whose car we had. But being 13, he doesn't necessarily know who does what in the state," she said.

"He was saying, go faster, and I was saying no, we can't get a speeding fine!"

Recovering well

After more than five hours in hospital, Brodie was released, and is recovering at home.

Ms Hill said she returned the car keys to the McGowans the next day.

"They were very lovely people, I mean, you get the wrong impression of them in the media, because you hear the bad stuff, not the good stuff, but it shows you that they're normal human beings," she said.

Brodie said he felt "pretty lucky" after the run-in with the sting ray — and Mr McGowan.

"[I'm] very grateful."

"I'd just like to say thank you again, and I'm grateful that you came and you let us use your car."

Premier and wife glad to help

Mr McGowan said he and wife Sarah knew how serious a stingray barb could be.

"I was worried after what happened to my brother [who was stung by a stingray last year] and it was very serious," Mr McGowan said.

"His whole leg swelled up, and we were worried about his life for a while, so I just wanted to make sure that [Brodie] was taken care of.

"He was screaming and crying and it's an awful thing when you hear a child in a lot of pain.

"He was in a bad way."

Mr McGowan said he was glad to help but denied he had done anything special.

"I don't think we did anything else beyond what anyone else would do," he said.