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Editor’s Note: OC Family Magazine first published a report on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the July 2001 issue. This is an update to keep families of emerging young athletes informed. It rarely happens. But when it does, it’s devastating. A young athlete dies during a workout or a game from a heart ailment, often a condition no one was aware he or she was afflicted with a condition in which the first symptom is often death. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic heart disease that results in a thickening of the left ventricular wall of the heart muscle. As the heart wall continues to thicken, blood flow becomes more and more restricted and the heartbeat becomes erratic. The American Heart Association reports that sudden death among high school athletes from conditions such as this occur infrequently. Of the 4 million high school-age athletes, athletic field deaths due to heart irregularities occur, on average, in only 1 of 200,000 competitors. But it does happen. Local tragedies It happened in November 1999 to Fountain Valley High’s Scotty Lang, a 16-year-old who collapsed on the football field during practice due to HCM and later died at the hospital. Gray Lunde, age 14, died during a water polo practice at Newport Harbor High from the same, undisclosed condition. And Jaffet Campos, just 17, died on the pool deck at Saddleback High in Santa Ana during a water polo workout. According to Holly Morrel, executive director for A Heart for Sports, the Yorba Linda-based organization that screens students for HCM, knowing one is afflicted by this condition can be lifesaving. “We try to save lives through early detection so when we come across an individual who has been detected, we can refer them for further evaluation.” The nonprofit fulfills its mission by hosting screening events at high schools and other venues such as Angel Stadium. This is key because a routine physical typically will not detect the disease. Cost gets in the way Sadly, cost often prohibits organizations from sponsoring such events, and so does indecision. During a screening at Fountain Valley High in 2001, even though 2,500 letters were mailed to parents encouraging them to send their child for the free HCM screening, only a fraction of the student body took advantage. This frustrates Jeff Greaves, who with his wife, Seaneen, founded A Heart for Sports. “Twenty-five kids throughout the nation die suddenly of this disease each year,” Greaves says. “A simple 5-minute test could have saved their lives.” Greaves was diagnosed with the disease in his late 20s after his own father succumbed to HCM at age 29. After hearing about Scotty Lang’s death, he dedicated himself to increasing awareness about the disease through screening events. According to Morrell, “We’ve actually screened in excess of 3,000 kids now.” Partnering with clubs like the Anaheim Angels and the San Jose Sharks, who offer their facilities as screening venues, the nonprofit is making progress. “We’ve screened consistently throughout the last few years and have plans to continue. We’re attempting to launch a statewide campaign in February of ’05,” Morrell says. The cost to screen one athlete at an event, which includes an echocardiogram of the heart, is roughly $50 compared to a cost of $800 and up if the test was obtained privately. The benefit is invaluable. Just ask Monty Williams, who was diagnosed with HCM at age 18 while a promising basketball player at Notre Dame. He chose to quit the sport, armed with the knowledge that continuing to play could end his life. Kimberly A. Porrazzo is a senior writer with OC Family Magazine. Sudden chest impact An injury to monitor closely “The No. 1 cause of death for both male and female athletes during an athletic event is getting hit in the chest with a ball or a hockey puck,” says Dr. David Janda, author of “The Awakening of a Surgeon: A Family Guide to Preventing Sports Injuries and Death” and director of The Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine. According to Janda, “As many as 120 to 150 students a year will die from this scenario.” Working in conjunction with General Motors Research Labs, the Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine concluded that if an object forcefully hits the chest at just the right moment, it can interrupt the natural rhythm of the heart. “It short-circuits the heart,” Janda explains. Appearing on “Oprah” this year, he stressed the importance of having portable defibrillators at all athletic events in which such an incident might occur. The equipment will “shock” the heart into beating again, hopefully resuming its normal rhythm until medical help arrives. “Every set of fields, gymnasium and hockey arena should have immediate access to a defibrillator. For every minute that goes by (after a heartbeat is interrupted by impact of a forceful object), the chance of survival goes down by 10%. You have 10 minutes to help them.” Information: www.redcross-cmd.org/Chapter/Courses/aeds.html The sport that records the most injuries is basketball, with some 650,000 incidents reported in 2001. The highest rate of catastrophic injury (neck injuries, etc.) occurs in cheerleading, gymnastics and winter sports. Today, female soccer players report 3 times the number of dental injuries as male football players, according to the American Dental Association. Women’s lacrosse was the sport that ranked highest in concussions, with women’s soccer posting the second-highest number of injuries, according to a study conducted by Temple University. Most injuries occur during free play, not during organized competition. By Kimberly A. Porrazzo RESOURCES ** A Heart for Sports: 888.509.4278 or www.aheartforsports.org ** Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association: www.hcma-heart.com WHAT TO LOOK FOR Symptoms of HCM (often these are NOT present, but may be indicators): ** Shortness of breath ** Chest pain ** Heart palpitations ** Lightheadedness |
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