Helen McKinnon Duan, a resident of North York, turns 112 today, and she confirms during her birthday celebration today, Monday, that the key to living a long life is "just to keep breathing."

She added, "Staying active is very important for living a long life, I have been active all my life, and you need a little luck too."

This morning, CP24 visited the supercentenarian at her home in Willowdale, which she shares with her daughter, who is also named Helen. Duan has witnessed many changes over her 112 years of life.

Helen Donaldson was born on September 18, 1911, in the Timiskaming mine and moved to Toronto with her family when she was 12 years old.

There, she met her late husband, Harold Alfred Duan, and the couple married in 1935 and had two children, Helen and Harry.

Duan, who has five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren, worked as an accountant and office manager until her retirement in 1976.

She lived through both World War I and II and still remembers singing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" when she was four years old while raising money for soldiers during the Great War.

This centenarian, who loved playing softball as a child, has lived to see the invention of cars, airplanes, television, and computers, alongside countless technological, social, and medical advancements.

Her daughter said she made an effort to keep up with these changes, pointing out the first iPad her mother got when she was in her nineties.

Her daughter wrote in a recent email to CP24, "(Mom) is known and loved and respected for her great intelligence and sharp wit, her infectious laughter, her knowledge and true kindness, her wise words and magical stories, and her delightful storytelling."

"As she approaches 112, anyone who knows Helen Duan or meets her is amazed by her beauty, the kindness of her personality, her zest for life, her loving heart, her concern for others and nurturing, her sense of humor, humility, dignity, and ethics."