An 11-year-old Girl Saves Her Grandfather’s Life After A Heart Attack

Eva Prévot is an eleven-year-old girl who very recently did something wonderful: save her grandfather’s life.

Days before, their gym teacher had taught them how to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and by chance that learning was the most important acquired so far.

This happy and proud family of their young and brave daughter and granddaughter, does not stop receiving calls from journalists around the world interested in the story.

However, Eva herself, with an unusual maturity, recalls the importance of all of us receiving training in something as basic as cardiopulmonary massage.

We never know when we may need it, and it is something that saves lives. The lives of the people we love the most.

Today in our space we tell you this hopeful story that happened in La Coruña (Spain).

The day Eva’s grandfather suffered his second heart attack

It wasn’t the first time, because Grandpa Manuel’s heart had already “broken” before. It was not long since they had just arrived from the hospital after suffering a first heart attack and they were all very aware of their recovery.

Now, in reality, none of us are prepared for doom, for those unjust and unforeseen blows that, from time to time, life brings us.

• Eva Prévot specifies that when everything happened she was not yet 11 years old. It was night and she was in her room doing her homework when suddenly she heard her grandmother screaming from downstairs.

Something was happening, although somehow, he already sensed that the despair that his grandmother showed had to do with his grandfather.

• Mr. Manuel had just suffered another heart attack. It was on the ground. Trembling and scared, they dialed the emergency number, something that little Eva had to do because her grandmother could not react.

• The toilets were giving the girl instructions on what to do. Assistance would take a while to arrive and there was no other option but to react, have a clear mind and know how to act.

How Eva solved the problem

In a way Eva knew very well what to do. Just in those days, he just received training from his gym teacher on how to perform a CPR massage.

So keeping calm at all times, the first thing he did is check if his grandfather Manuel had a pulse.

No, he didn’t notice anything. His grandfather wasn’t breathing. So, without thinking, he began to perform the resuscitation maneuvers for 10 long minutes, without stopping, without stopping once and with determination.

He was not going to allow his grandfather Manuel to leave them. It did not matter if her hands were very small or if her grandmother, behind her, would not stop crying. In fact, he never stopped encouraging her. “That was going to be fine.”

So it was. When the toilets arrived they took over. Mr. Manuel woke up hours later in the intensive care room, where they told him what had happened: his granddaughter Eva had saved his life. 

The cardiopulmonary massage that saves lives

Mr. Manuel spent two months in the hospital. Now, after all those weeks and the support received by his granddaughter and her family, he faces life in a different way, he feels stronger and more united with his family.

For her part, Eva, the first thing she did after seeing that her grandfather was fine and that he was going to overcome that second heart attack was to go to his school and thank her teacher for having taught her how to carry out the cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuver.

When his teacher heard the story, he couldn’t help but get emotional and shed a few tears.

In reality, we never get to know the importance that some acts have on other people, and when one is a teacher and is dedicated to transmitting teachings, there is nothing like seeing that “knowledge serves and saves lives”.

That is why the teacher himself and Eva remind us once again of the importance that in schools and in every workplace it is mandatory to train both children and adults in something as important as pulmonary resuscitation.

For our part, we leave you the following video inviting you to practice it with a doll. We hope you never need to, but if the occasion demands it, don’t forget to stay calm and act confident.

We are all capable of saving lives. It is in our hands to make hearts beat again. Do you dare to learn? Do you also dare to teach the little ones?