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VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Vada Carawan was scared but focused.
An 11-year-old girl’s father had just suffered a heart attack, and she was trying to put into practice CPR training she had recently received.
Vada’s Virginia Beach Girl Scout troop had just learned CPR 11 days ago, and at that moment late last month, when her father was unresponsive and her dog was upset, she focused her energy on saving him. I poured it.
“Just try your best to do what you want to do,” Vada told Nexstar’s WAVY. “At first, I thought, ‘I don’t know if I can do CPR,’ but it looks like I can.”
And she did.
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“Of course I was scared,” Vada said. “Then I started crying and thought, ‘What am I going to do?'” For a split second, I was in complete shock. And I was like, ‘Heart attack, heart attack, 911.’ ”
At that point, we did everything in our power to save his life.
“My dog Maggie was freaking out,” said Vada, who just celebrated her birthday four days ago. “She was trying to wake him up, put her foot there as if she was trying to wake him up.”
At that moment, Vada knew she had to intervene to save her father. When she performed chest compressions on her father while on the phone with a dispatcher, it was an almost indescribable experience.
With the help of arriving paramedics, they were able to revive the father and get his heart beating again before he was taken to hospital. Her father is still in the hospital but is recovering.
11-year-old Vada Carawan is credited with saving her father’s life. (wavy)
“It’s hard to describe in words because I was so scared,” Vada said. “I think I was a little weak because I’m not your father and it’s different than doing it with a dummy.”
The CPR training was held during a Girl Scout meeting.
“In fact, I was the only one in the entire class who successfully rescued the dummy because when you perform CPR, a light lights up on the dummy and if it’s green, you know you’re doing it right.” Vada said. “If you go deep enough, you have the right amount of strength.”
Vada’s mother, Amanda Carawan, is proud of her daughter’s heroic actions.
“She was supposed to be his hero,” Amanda told WAVY. “I thought he was her hero every day, but this time she needed to be his hero.”
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Vada’s father is in the hospital recovering and the family is raising money for his medical expenses.
And for all the other young kids, age is just a number, Vada said. Let’s shoot for the stars.
“I never think you’re too young,” Vada said. “I believe you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.”
And she proved that her actions can save lives.
It’s not just her father’s life.
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