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 said 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 fair, she sprang to action when her other grandpa suddenly dropped a bag of apples while the two were grocery shopping.

“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.

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