A schoolgirl was so excited to be asked to the ball by her crush she had a heart attack and had to be saved by quick-thinking classmates.
Telita Calley was about to sit her Year 11 biology exam at Kingsway Christian College in Perth when she collapsed in the school hallway.
The 16-year-old went into cardiac arrest as students used the CPR they learned in the school’s cadet program to keep her alive.
Telita Calley, 16, (pictured with her twin brother Joel) was so excited to be asked to the ball by her crush she had a heart attack and had to be saved by quick-thinking classmate
Telita spent a week in hospital after the heart attack with her family by her side until a pacemaker was fitted just above her heart
‘I had just been asked to the ball by this guy, I grabbed my friend’s hand I was so excited and I collapsed,’ she told 9 News.
‘She stopped me from hitting my head on the ground.’
Telita’s twin brother Joel ran to find their father Marty, who works at the school, and he and other teachers took over CPR until paramedics arrived.
Mr Calley used his scuba-diving cylinder to give his daughter oxygen during the 20-minute heart attack.
‘It’s pretty crazy to think 95 per cent of people don’t even make it to the hospital and I’m still breathing and I’m here,’ Telita said.
The teenager said her classmates and family’s efforts undoubtedly saved her life as she turned blue from lack of oxygen on the school floor
Telita (second form right) with her mother Julianne (left), father Marty (right) and siblings
The teenager said her classmates and family’s efforts undoubtedly saved her life as she turned blue from lack of oxygen on the school floor.
‘I would have died, I wouldn’t be here today, I wouldn’t be talking. I was blue, bluer than the sky,’ she said.
Despite the lengthy ordeal and oxygen deprivation, Telita suffered no brain damage and was sitting up and talking at home little more than a week later.
On Thursday she had a small pacemaker installed near her heart that gives her a shock if she goes into cardiac arrest during her recovery.
Her mother Julianne stayed by her side during her hospital stay, taking unpaid leave from her job, and a GoFundMe page to cover her lost wages raised $3,550 so far.