Missouri girl helps saves grandpa thanks to science project

ST. LOUIS -- A 10-year-old St. Louis girl is being credited for helping save her grandfather's life after noticing, thanks to her earlier science fair project, that he was having a stroke.

Sophia Tabors told television station KMOV she decided to study strokes after one of her grandfathers had one. The ensuing project by the fourth-grader and self-described bookworm won a second-place ribbon, disproving one teacher's skepticism that a deep dive into the science of strokes would be a good fair entry.

But two months after the science fair, she sprang to action when her other grandpa suddenly dropped a bag of apples while the two were grocery shopping with his wife.

"He was staring at it, and I was trying to ask him if he was OK," she recalled. "He was saying something but I didn't get it, and his face was droopy on one side."

Sophia told her mom what was happening, and she called 911.

Dr. Amer Alshekhlee of SSM DePaul Hospital commended the girl's recognition of her grandfather's peril.

"I have no doubt she saved a lot of his functions and probably his life, too," Alshekhlee said.

The grandfather is recovering.

Information from: KMOV-TV, http://www.kmov.com