‘She’s my hero:’ 17-year-old cheerleader back home after mother saves her life during cardiac arrest

By Gilbert Baez

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    RALEIGH (WRAL) — The 17-year-old cheerleader who suffered cardiac arrest during a recent competition in Raleigh is back home in Harnett County after several scary days in the hospital.

WRAL shared Keianna Joe’s story earlier this week – and she and her mother told their amazing story on the Today show on Wednesday morning. People across the country heard their heroic story.

The teenager’s medical emergency happened March 5 during warmups at Broughton High School in Raleigh. Fortunately, her mother, who is trained in CPR and the use of a portable defibrillator, was at her side to deliver the lifesaving shock. Andrea Joe, the teen’s mother, says during defibrillator training when practicing on dummies, the machine won’t advise a shock.

But when she put the life-saving device on her daughter, it told her to shock her child.

“It was a big realization at that moment that this is very serious, and that she is not in a good place,” says Andrea.

Keianna had practiced the routine countless times in the past 10 years – but this time it was different.

She recalls the terrifying moment, saying, “I went to cartwheel …. and they had to slowly let me down to the ground because I was going into cardiac arrest.”

Her mother, who has been at every competition, jumped into action. She started CPR, and when the portable defibrillator arrived, she used it to save her daughter’s life. The machine got her heart going again. Andrea and others continued CPR until medics rushed her daughter to the hospital, where she spent two days on a ventilator.

Before going home, doctors installed an internal defibrillator just in case this happens again.

“She’s my hero. She honestly is,” says Keianna, “If there’s anyone in this world I trust with my life, it’s my mom.”

Now, her mother is on a crusade to save more lives – by getting portable defibrillators at every school and every sporting event. Phil Harris, Executive Director of the Sandhills Red Cross agrees, “Any place we congregate. Could be a church. Could be a school. A lot of places have [portable defibrillators], and we need to identify those when we come into a building.” Because of her knowledge and skills with an AED, this mother gets to celebrate her daughter’s life – for the second time.

“How amazing it is that a mother is able to give life to her child twice,” says Andrea. “It kinda of sits. You think about it a little be differently when you think about it that way.”

Keianna says her cheerleading days are over, but doctors are hopeful she’ll be able to continue running track when she feels up to it.

It only takes a few hours to learn CPR and how to use a portable defibrillator – and i’s something you can use for the rest of your life to save a life.

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