VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — If someone around you suddenly needed CPR, would you know what to do?
An 11-year-old Virginia Beach girl faced that question—it was her dad having a massive heart attack. Understandably, Vada Carawan had a lot of questions.
"What's gonna happen after this? What? What's life gonna be if I lose my dad?"
Just some of the thoughts swirling around in her head while performing chest compressions on her dad.
Watch: Extended interview with Vada Carawan about saving her dad's life
I asked her to take me back to that day in November.
"He kept saying that his chest hurt—he said it felt like it was symptoms of a heart attack."
Her dad, Clinton Carawan, says he doesn't remember saying that.
"Not really, I mean, it was pretty foggy."
Moments later, Clinton collapsed to the ground. Vada immediately dialed 9-1-1 and was on the phone with a dispatcher.
Watch: Extended interview with Clinton Carawan
"I told him that my dad fell back. He's trying to gasp for air."
One of the doctors who eventually helped treat Clinton was Dr. Deepak Talreja, chief of cardiology for Sentara Health.
"So he had what we call 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."
How did Vada know CPR?
"Girl Scouts... 11 days before, I went to Girl Scouts, dad actually drove me."
She didn't think she would need to use it less than two weeks after learning it.
Watch related: Norfolk woman saves stranger with CPR
"Not so soon, maybe later in life."
And in that moment, how did she stay calm?
"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. I focused on saving him. I needed to save my dad. I needed for him to be alive."
Dr. Talreja says it's remarkable she was able to do those chest compressions while on the phone with a dispatcher.
"I mean, frankly, it's just amazing. And by getting the 911 team involved, the team can talk you through, for example, doing the CPR—getting the compression rates right."
Watch related: Here's where you can learn CPR in Hampton Roads
Vada says that was a big help.
"And he counted for me when I did chest compressions. And I think I did it for five to seven minutes."
Dr. Talreja stresses that was critical.
"And 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."
Clinton was first taken to Sentara Virginia Beach General and then transferred to Sentara's Heart Hospital in Norfolk, where there was tremendous effort in getting Clinton's heart working again. But Dr. Talreja is clear about Vada's immediate intervention.
"So what she did for her dad, which is a remarkable life-saving gift, is that CPR kept blood flow going to his brain, so his brain could receive oxygen until his heart could be restarted again. She saved his life that night."
Resulting in national attention, Vada was invited to appear on the "Tamron Hall Show," sharing the steps she took to save her dad's life. Her dad says he gets emotional reflecting on his daughter's actions.
"I tear up thinking about it every time. It's amazing. I just... can't believe it, to be honest with you."
I asked Vada, what's the takeaway?
"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. So you can do anything you put your mind to. If I can save a life!"
Watch: Learning CPR
Clinton acknowledges he's had to make lifestyle changes.
"Oh yeah, major... for one, definitely had to quit smoking cigarettes. I think that was one of the leading factors to what happened."
He says it wasn't difficult to quit.
"Pretty easy after waking up from your deathbed. That was pretty easy. I don't have any urge for it, and if I do, I just think about laying in that bed. I don't ever want to be there again. That's not a good feeling, laying there, not knowing if you're going to make it or not."
He's made other changes too.
"Eating—my eating. I was eating a lot of red meat, hamburger, and steak and stuff like that, and now I'm kind of pushing the red meat away and eating more chicken and vegetables and trying to stay away from the fast food stuff."
And for more information on learning CPR, click here.
Photojournalist Lydia Johnson contributed to this story.
