‘She Saved My Life': Michigan Girl Uses Skills From a Babysitting Class to Help Her Grandfather Through a Heart Attack

"We thought, he's just playing but then he started looking weird and he wasn't responding,” the 12-year-old girl said.

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A Michigan girl used the skills learned in a babysitting training course to save the life of her grandfather.

A common first job for many tweens and teens, Kate Lyon enrolled in the "How to be a Great Babysitter” class a few months ago through Forest Hills Community Enrichment classes.

"I really wanted to learn to babysit and I had a really great babysitter when I was younger,” the 12-year-old girl told WOOD-TV, the NBC affiliate in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This story isn't about babysitting. It's about how Kate at age 12, took those skills she learned in babysitting class and saved her grandfather's life.

"We thought, he's just playing but then he started looking weird and he wasn't responding,” Kate said.

Her grandfather, Tom Kissling, had a heart attack, right after dinner at the kitchen table.

Kate called 911 while Kissling’s wife started giving chest compressions.

"I was sorta like, ‘you're doing it wrong.’ So I stepped in and started doing them," Kate said.

Kate was able to do those chest compressions until paramedics arrived.

"Kate was just 12 when that happened and had just taken the class. You know, you never thought she'd be using that in the next two months,” her grandfather said. “She did, and she saved my life."

Read the full story from WOOD-TV here.

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