And it’s little wonder why.

Shenae, 15, helped save her dad’s life by administering cardiac pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after he suffered a massive heart attack at their Greta home.

Mr Brown, 46, was at home with his family last Wednesday night when he started to experience chest pains and a tingling sensation in his hands.

Before long he had lost consciousness and his breathing had stopped.

“Earlier in the night, Wilfred said he had had chest pains and pins and needle in his hands so I called the ambulance,” Mr Brown’s wife, Leisa, said.

“And in the eight minutes it took the ambulance to get to our house Wilfred had stopped breathing.”

As the ambulance officers worked on her father, Shenae stepped in to help with CPR.

“Everything was happening so fast and the officers needed help with dad,” Shenae said. “Adrenalin just kicked in and I starting giving dad CPR. I wasn’t really thinking too much about it at the time; I was just doing what I had to do. It was an instant reaction.”

Shenae, a Year 10 student at Maitland High School, learned CPR at a life-saving course four years ago.

“I just feel so happy and proud that I helped save dad’s life and I am so glad that I learned CPR. It’s a good feeling to be able to do something like this,” she said.

As he recovers in his bed at John Hunter Hospital, Mr Brown said he is proud of his daughter and grateful for her knowledge.

“You don’t expect to have a heart attack at 46, but I did, and it turns out I was very lucky,” he said. “If it wasn’t for Shenae this may have been a very different story.”

The Brown family is now calling for more Maitland residents to learn CPR.

“The thing is you never know when you are going to need to use it,” Shenae said.