A teenage girl jumped into action by calling 911 and helping her mother steer their car to safety after her mom lost consciousness while driving.
Katie Harris, 37, told "Good Morning America" she had been driving her 14-year-old daughter Darby home after basketball practice on Nov. 12 when she suddenly felt unwell.
"I don't remember chest tightness but I remember blacking out and I said to Darby, 'Darby, there's something seriously wrong,'" Harris recalled.
Darby said at first, she didn't think her mom's condition was serious because she knew her mom had "low iron" levels.
"I wasn't thinking much of it, but then she said it, like, three times. I was like, 'Yeah, she's not right,'" Darby, a freshman at Daviess County High School in Owensboro, Kentucky, told "GMA."
Darby said her mom then "blacked out" and briefly lost consciousness, but Darby was able to help steer the car to the side of the road. When her mom regained consciousness and put the car in park, she called 911.
"My main focus was to stay calm, because her and my dad have always taught me how to stay calm, and me and all my siblings, they've always taught us to just be really calm during things like that," Darby said.
Harris credited her daughter's calmness and quick thinking with saving her life.
"I remember being terrified. I thought at any given moment, my heart was going to give out," Harris continued, noting that she "didn't have the physical strength to pick up the phone and call 911."
"She saved my life," the mom of four added.
Harris said she was transported by ambulance to a local hospital, and then transferred to the University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital, where she spent nearly one week under treatment, the hospital confirmed to "GMA."
Once hospitalized, Harris said she was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia, or VT, a type of arrhythmia or unusual heart rhythm where the ventricles in the lower chambers of the heart beat too fast, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
Harris said doctors said they didn't know what caused her VT but she was treated with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, or ICD, a device that is monitored by doctors and is used to prevent or fix an arrhythmia by sending send an electric pulse or shock to the heart if necessary, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
Harris, who is a self-employed home and business cleaner, has had to take time away from work for the recovery process and will have to undergo cardiac rehabilitation to learn to get her heart rate back up in the future. However, the mom said she is grateful for her daughter and for more time with all four of her children.
"I'm so grateful because she was able to keep me here longer, so I can keep being a part of their life," Harris said of Darby, adding of her and her siblings, "They're my everything. They're what I wake up for. I'm so grateful."
Harris added that she hopes her story encourages fellow parents to have hard conversations with their children about what to do in emergency or unexpected situations.
"[Darby] knew exactly what to do in that situation, and I would encourage parents to really, really talk about things like that and stay strong in your faith," Harris said. "Those are the two main things that kept me alive."
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