How a little luck and some expert training helped a Thunder Bay, Ont., teen save her dad's life

A family in Thunder Bay, Ont., is sharing a harrowing story about an extremely close call, all while shining a light on the importance of CPR training.

In late August, 47-year-old Michel Caza went into cardiac arrest early one morning while laying in bed at home.

Next to him, his wife, Clare, jolted awake from a dream to find a nightmare unfolding in front of her.

"I heard Michel beside me. I thought it was snoring at first, but then I'm like, this isn't normal. He's kind of gasping. And so I was trying to wake him up," Clare Caza said, recounting the story on CBC's Superior Morning.

The youngest son in the Caza family happened to be awake and was about to head out on a morning run when he heard the commotion nearby.

"He turned on the light. We noticed that [Michel] was, based on his colour, clearly in distress and so I started performing CPR to the best of my abilities," said Clare Caza.

The teenager woke his sister, and the whole family quickly jumped into action.

That's when 15-year-old Madeleine Caza took over from her mom and began performing CPR, a life-saving skill she had recently learned in her Grade 9 high school gym class.

"I plan on going into the medical field so … I always thought that I would use CPR eventually, but definitely not this soon in my life and on my dad," she said.

Thanks to the training received at school, the teen could recognize her mom was not effectively administering CPR.

Felt like a movie

"It kind of just came in like an instinct. And I was just like, she's not doing it right. It's too low. So then I just jumped in and started and I was counting with the 911 operator," said Madeleine Caza.

Madeleine was able to keep her dad alive as they anxiously awaited the arrival of first responders.

"At that point, they had to shock his heart five times," said Clare Caza.

"It felt very surreal, it didn't feel like it was actually happening. Even afterwards, when we were at the hospital, it kind of just felt like one big movie that we were living," Madeleine Caza added.

St. Patrick High School has been facilitating CPR training in its physical education program since 2009. The Thunder Bay high school and many other schools across Canada teach CPR through a program provided by The Advanced Coronary Treatment (ACT) Foundation.

The foundation provides CPR and AED training programs in high schools across the country and raises money to donate mannequins and teacher training to schools.

More than 4.8 million young people have been trained in CPR by their teachers through this lifesaving program to date, according to the ACT Foundation.

"The stars really aligned," Michel Caza said. "[Madeleine was] laser-focused and everyone playing a role in it through the whole process, it was a team effort."

"You know, they saved my life."

Sharing their story

Michel Caza was transferred to the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at Toronto General Hospital, where he underwent a successful surgery before being sent home in September.

Now, he's expected to make a full recovery.

As the family continues to process that near-life-shattering August morning, they have begun to share their story in hopes that others will consider learning, or re-learning, CPR.

Madeleine Caza has also just received an award from the ACT Foundation, recognizing her life-saving efforts.

"I'm happy I got the award. I think it shows that schools really should be giving this training. I think it's extremely important 'cause I feel like if I didn't have the training, I wouldn't have been able to do what I did," she said.