An 11-year-old Virginia girl has gained national attention after saving her dad's life. While he was having a massive heart attack, the Girl Scout used CPR and she had only learned it a few days earlier.
Vada Carawan had many questions running through her mind as she performed chest compressions on her
"What's gonna happen after this? What, what's life gonna be if I lose my dad?" Vada said. "He kept saying that his chest hurt. He told me it was heart attack symptoms."
When asked what he remembers Vada's dad Clinton Carawan says he doesn't remember much. "It was pretty foggy," he said.
Moments later, Clinton collapsed to the ground and Vada dialed 911.
"I told (the dispatcher) that my dad fell back. He's trying to gasp for air," Vada said.
Dr. Deepak Talreja, the chief of cardiology at Sentara Health describes the event as sudden cardiac death.
"With sudden cardiac death. It's a sudden event. It happens with no warning whatsoever, and a person just collapses to the ground with no heartbeat and no pulse, they're clinically dead," Talreja said.
Vada said she learned CPR less than two weeks before her father's cardiac episode. When asked how she stayed so calm, she had a thoughtful answer.
"I didn't really think about it. I was just like, I need to save my dad's life. That's the main focus right now. Chest compressions. I need to do it once the EMT comes, then I can break down in tears," Vada said.
Talreja says calling 911 is the most important thing you can do if you witness someone in cardiac distress.
Vada doing the chest compressions was a life-saving measure to help her dad until EMTs arrived.
"The really good news is in the time it took to get the emergency medical services there, because he was getting CPR, that kept his brain alive in time for life-saving interventions to arrive," Talreja said. "Unquestionably, she saved his life that night."
Vada hopes to encourage others to be brave and step in to help.
"You can do anything that you put your mind to, no matter how old you are. I think that's important for everybody to know, because some kids are saying that they can't do stuff because they're too little or not strong enough to do it. But I don't believe that whatsoever," she said. "I saved a life! So you can do anything you put your mind to. If I can save a life."
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