A woman experienced likely the scariest scenario possible for a parent: seeing her child unresponsive and without a pulse. But this quick-thinking mother acted and helped save her daughter’s life.

While warming up prior to a cheerleading competition, 17-year-old Keianna Joe experienced a scary medical episode. She collapsed suddenly and went into cardiac arrest. 

Andrea Joe, Keianna’s mother, said her daughter’s cheer coach ran frantically, screamed for help and asked someone to call an ambulance. Andrea then witnessed her daughter unconscious and without a pulse. 

Andrea, a certified medical assistant, sprang into action, working to save her precious daughter’s life.

“I just took over,” Andrea said. “I know CPR. I know how to do this. This is my baby and I have to save her.”

For about 10 minutes, this loving mother worked to save her daughter as she performed CPR on Keianna, hoping to get her heart beating again.

Then, as the video on YouTube mentions, a portable defibrillator arrived on the scene. Thankfully, Andrea had received training on these devices, but there was something different about this one.

“The machine said, ‘shock required,’” Andrea said. “And I mean, I’ve trained on these AED devices before and they’ve never told me, you know, ‘shock required.”’

Nevertheless, Andrea used the defibrillator to shock Keianna’s heart back into rhythm and performed even more CPR on her. 

Finally, a heartbeat returned! Andrea had saved her daughter’s life!

After a 10-day hospital stay, Keianna is out, but with a miniature defibrillator in her chest. It remains unclear what caused Keianna to go into cardiac arrest.

Andrea stated, with tears welling up, that on the way home from the hospital, she made Keianna hold her hand. 

“She’s with me, she’s here, she’s right next to me and I’ve got her,” Andrea said. “And it’s the best feeling ever.”

What a scary, but beautiful story about love and a woman who refused to let her daughter die.

3 John 1:4 “I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth.”