Six-year-old Kaltoum Fakri's mom looked like she wasn't breathing. Fakri tried to wake her, but nothing was working.
So Fakri acted fast. She called 911 and then stayed on the line with the operator as she ran outside to seek help from a neighbor.
The 911 dispatcher told the girl to try the next door neighbors’ house to see if there were any adults home who could help.
But Fakri didn’t run next door. She ran two doors down to Joe Chornock’s house, and when he answered the door, she handed him the phone.
In footage captured by a home security camera, Fakri can be heard telling Chornock that "Mommy stopped breathing at my house."
“I was saying 'Mommy, Mommy, wake up,' but she was not waking up,” Fakri told him.
“She hands me the phone for the 911 operator, and I identified myself and what I was doing,” Chornock said.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
Chornock isn’t only Fakri's neighbor; he is also the fire chief in Germantown, Maryland.
As the two waited for medical help to arrive, Chornock checked the mother’s vitals. By the time medics arrived, Fakri's mother had started breathing again. Shortly after, she came to — a little disoriented, but otherwise OK, according to emergency officials.
Chornock said the outcome is all thanks to the quick-thinking 6-year-old.
She “did exactly what we try to teach kids," he said. "This is why we teach them to dial 911 and to tell the operator where you’re calling from."
Fakri was relieved to have her mom awake and healthy.
