Incredible moment hero teenager, 15, SAVES the life of three-year-old family member drowning in swimming pool by pulling her out and performing CPR on her after learning it at school

This is the incredible moment a hero teenager saved her three-year-old cousin from drowning after using CPR she learned at school.

Home video cameras show Maxine Atkinson crawling into the backyard on the morning of the family's celebration.

Minutes later, her uncle saw her floating face down in the pool, with aunt Kirsten Atkinson describing her as 'lifeless.'

As Maxine's uncle called for help and tried to do the Heimlich Maneuver, Kirsten's 15-year-old Madison Atkinson immediately raced out and started performing CPR. 

'Madison's just pumping away for for a couple of minutes, and finally, Maxine starts to open her eyes and start to breathe,' Kirsten told the Today Show. 

'The dispatcher said, 'Put her on her side.' And when we did that, Maxine opened her eyes and starts to literally breathe on her own.'

Madison is the captain of her high school junior varsity cheerleading team and had also taken a sports medicine class where she was taught CPR. 

'I saw that he was trying the Heimlich,' she said of her father. 'But I knew in that case you needed CPR because she didn't seem like she was breathing. I told everyone I knew CPR and it calmed everyone down.' 

'I was just trying to remember what I'm supposed to do,' she added. 'I was just like let's get this baby alive - no one else knew CPR.'

What was most remarkable to mother Kirsten was how Madison never overreacted throughout the life-saving incident.

'The entire time Madison's there just calm, cool, collected, not panicked,' she added.

Paramedics were shocked upon arrival when they discovered how old the heroic teenager was.

'Their faces were just like, this could have been so different,' she said. 'They commended her and they said that, you know, she has performed a miracle.'

Kirsten Atkinson said the whole ordeal gave a completely new meaning to the Thanksgiving holiday. 

'We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving in a different way, right? It was about, you know, how precious life is and how things can change in the blink of an eye,' she said.

Little Maxine has since made a full recovery but just in case, the rest of the family is planning to get CPR training themselves.