'She's my hero:' 17-year-old cheerleader describes moment of cardiac arrest

The 17-year-old cheerleader who suffered cardiac arrest during a recent competition in Raleigh is back home in Harnett County after several scary days in the hospital.

WRAL shared Keianna Joe's story earlier this week – and she and her mother told their amazing story on the Today show on Wednesday morning. People across the country heard their heroic story.

Andrea Joe, the teen's mother, says during defibrillator training when practicing on dummies, the machine won't advise a shock.

But when she put the life-saving device on her daughter, it told her to shock her child.

"It was a big realization at that moment that this is very serious, and that she is not in a good place," says Andrea.

Keianna had practiced the routine countless times in the past 10 years – but this time it was different.

She recalls the terrifying moment, saying, "I went to cartwheel .... and they had to slowly let me down to the ground because I was going into cardiac arrest."

Her mother, who has been at every competition, jumped into action. She started CPR, and when the portable defibrillator arrived, she used it to save her daughter's life. The machine got her heart going again. Andrea and others continued CPR until medics rushed her daughter to the hospital, where she spent two days on a ventilator.

17-year-old cheerleader goes into cardiac arrest during warm-up at Raleigh high school

Before going home, doctors installed an internal defibrillator just in case this happens again.

"She's my hero. She honestly is," says Keianna, "If there's anyone in this world I trust with my life, it's my mom."

Because of her knowledge and skills with an AED, this mother gets to celebrate her daughter's life – for the second time.

"How amazing it is that a mother is able to give life to her child twice," says Andrea. "It kinda of sits. You think about it a little be differently when you think about it that way."

It only takes a few hours to learn CPR and how to use a portable defibrillator – and it's something you can use for the rest of your life to save a life.