When Katie Murphy's mom asked her for help putting toothpaste on her toothbrush, the 14-year-old knew that something was seriously wrong.

Her 45-year-old mother, Christa Murphy was having trouble completing simple tasks around the house, so she turned to her teen daughter for help. As Katie observed her mother, a school lesson came to mind that sent warning bells off inside her head.

Earlier in the year, Katie's teacher, Beth Tomlin, had used a story to teach her students about the symptoms of a stroke.

Katie's mother's strange behavior triggered the memory of the simple story. She began to notice the physical signs when the flow of oxygen to her mother's brain was slowly being blocked.

"Her speech was all mixed up, [and did] not make sense at all," Katie Murphy said. "I had gone back to that story and I was like, 'Maybe she's having a stroke.'"

Acting quickly, Katie called 911 and her mother was taken to the hospital. Doctors immediately confirmed her diagnosis - Christa was having a stroke. Thanks to her science lesson, Katie knew exactly what to do.

'I'm extremely blessed to be sitting here today,' Christa Murphy said. Tomlin and Christa Murphy feel that God had a hand in Katie's intervention, considering she wasn't even supposed to be home at the time.

Perhaps it was a little bit of both.

[h/t ABCNews / Daily Mail]