STALLINGS, N.C. -- Three months ago, a Union County girl called 911 when her mother had an emergency. 

On Wednesday, she received an award for her heroism as local emergency workers used her story to teach other students how to respond when seconds count.

"Do you all know about 911?" Stallings Police Chief Larke Plyler asked students at Stallings Elementary.

"You can't start too young just as these parents did with Gianna," Plyler later told NewsChannel 36.

When she was only 2 years old, Gianna Coleman's parents started teaching her their cell phone numbers and how and when to dial 911. That paid off on March 10 when her mother started acting strangely. 

PHOTOS from the award ceremony

"On that morning, exactly three months ago, at 7:26 in the morning she dialed 911 and called the police department and told them her mom was having an emergency," said Gianna's father, Clark. "They were able to get her to the hospital. She had to have emergency brain surgery. She had a stroke. She could've died. But she lived and she's getting better every day. And it's all because of a little girl who called 911."

"Because of her my life is now," said Gianna's mother, Margaret. 

On Wednesday, her last day of school, 7-year-old Gianna received a plaque from the Stallings Police Department.

And the story gets even better. Gianna had no idea what was happening to her mother that day, but she held the phone so the 911 operator could hear the noise in the background. They were able to figure out that Margaret Coleman was having a stroke.