Katie Murphy is a 14-year-old girl from Wisconsin, US. This week, the quick-thinking high school student managed to save her mother from a potentially fatal stroke.
Murphy noticed her mother Christa was acting differently than usual. The 45-year-old mum needed help doing simple tasks, such as putting toothpaste on her toothbrush. However, it wasn't until Christa's speech became muddled and incomprehensible, that Murphy knew she should act.
The High School freshman recalled a science lesson two days earlier where her science class teacher, Beth Tomlin, had used a story to inform students of the initial signs of a stroke.
"I thought it was kind of cool but weird that someone's speech would get mixed up," Murphy said, remembering why her teacher's story stuck.
Murphy, a student at St John's Lutheran School in Waukesha, told WISN: "Her speech was all mixed up; it didn't make sense at all. Then I had gone back to that story, and was like: 'Maybe she's having a stroke'."
Murphy immediately called an ambulance who treated her mother for a stroke - a condition where blood supply to the brain is cut off or when a blood vessel supplying the brain bursts.
Christa was shocked to learn that she had suffered a stroke at the age of 45. She recalled her symptoms: "I was going through my daily routine when things became a little difficult that day.
"They said I had a stroke, which I could not believe at the age of 45 that that was happening. I'm extremely blessed to be sitting here today."
The Murphy family said that Christa's intervention was fate, especially as she wasn't supposed to be home that evening.
Teacher Beth Tomlin told WISN: "I heard that Christa was supposed to be at a sleepover that night but didn't go. This was in God's hands. There's no other way to put it, it was all God's doing."
Katie Murphy definitely proves that it's worth paying attention in class!
