A 16-year-old girl has made a full recovery after suffering a cardiac arrest at her home in northern Greece, thanks to her mother’s swift response and the rapid use of a publicly available defibrillator.

The incident took place in mid-June in a remote mountain village, where the teenager suddenly collapsed at home.

Her younger sister was the first to realize something was wrong after hearing the girl breathing heavily. She immediately alerted their parents.

The girl’s mother, who had received first-aid training through the Kids Save Lives initiative, quickly recognized that her daughter was no longer breathing normally. She called for emergency assistance and immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

At the same time, the girl’s father contacted emergency medical services and retrieved one of the village’s two automated external defibrillators (AEDs). Another local resident trained through the same first-aid program also arrived to assist with the resuscitation efforts.

Defibrillator Restored Her Heartbeat

The defibrillator was used less than two minutes after the emergency unfolded. According to the organization, the teenager’s breathing returned after the first shock.

An ambulance arrived approximately 45 minutes later, with the response time affected by the village’s remote location.

The girl was then transferred through a series of medical facilities, beginning with a local health center before being moved to regional hospitals and, ultimately, to a specialist cardiac center in Athens. There, doctors implanted a state-of-the-art internal cardioverter-defibrillator.

Full Recovery After Two Weeks

Two weeks after the incident, the teenager returned home in good health.

In a statement, Kids Save Lives said the rescue demonstrated the importance of every link in the “Chain of Survival,” highlighting how trained members of the public and accessible defibrillators can save lives, particularly in rural and remote communities.