Local mom: 'I had a sudden cardiac arrest and I died in front of my kids'



SEATTLE -- A local mom says knowledge isn't just power -- it can be life-saving. And she's sharing her knowledge with others.

"Very unexpectedly, I had a sudden cardiac arrest and I died in front of my kids," Heather Kelley said Friday.

"It was the most terrifying thing I have ever experienced in my life," said her daughter Taylor.

Heather said she is alive today because of what her two teenager daughters know -- it's called the "chain of survival." Taylor and sister Ryan performed CPR and called 911 when their mom collapsed, suffering cardiac arrest as they walked to a Seahawks celebration in February 2014.

Ryan, who performed CPR on her mom, said, "I think it's one of the most important things a kid can ever learn."

And now all three are on a mission to make sure every child and adult knows what they know.

"As part of our healing process coming through this event, it's important to us to give that knowledge to as many people as possible," Heather said.

So Heather and her daughters donated a new automated external defibrillator to the North Seattle Boys & Girls Club.

"It's always great to expose kids so that they are prepared in an emergency. You never know when something is going to happen," said Allison Emery, of the Hope Heart Institute.

"I am living proof," Heather said. "I am sitting her today because my children knew how to do CPR. And if a 14 and 15-year-old can do that, in a crisis situation fraught with emotion, to their own parent, I think anybody can do it."