It is truly terrible to find out that there are certain cases of sudden deaths among young individuals who have just completed their athletics. In the issue of JACC journal last October, a lot of experts have said that it’s best to follow the guidelines in terms of screening people for heart ailments. This is to prevent this tragic instance from happening once again. Luckily, these events are actually rare. On the other hand, these are truly shocking and it is typically all over the news. Unluckily, sudden death is unpredictable and it may happen anytime and usually without warnings even after several years of participating in an athletic event.

This news is very surprising for parents of kids who always join athletic sports. Like in the case of Danny Berger, he actually came from a family of athletes and he grew as a good athlete and basketball player. He is more than 6 feet tall and he was recruited to play for the college basketball team. He played in college for 2 years and he dramatically improved his skills in sports thru the years. When he started playing for the Utah State University basketball team, he won more than twenty games per year. Then an awful and devastating instance happened.

An unpredicted collapse

During the walk thru practice one evening, Danny suddenly collapsed. The trainer was very much prepared for it and he had trained his staffs for such instance too. He immediately made the automated external defibrillator or AED available around the courtside. The patches were immediately placed on Danny’s chest and back after few seconds of collapsing. The AED provided a lifesaving shock and it was able to restore the heart rhythm of Danny to normal again. He recovered from this shocking event and was able to go back to playing the basketball right away.

Since then, Danny promised to become an advocate of AED and he is now campaigning for it to become available in schools with athletic events all the time. He was known for his urge in campaigning for the AED and for his outstanding service in 2014 at the NCAA final four tournaments.  He has played intensely in basketball throughout his life, but little did he know that he will suffer from a sudden collapse while practicing. There were no signs before the event though. He was just lucky enough that the university is very much prepared for it and they were able to deliver the AED therapy without delay and hesitation. This device is truly lifesaving and every school must have it, especially if they always conduct an athletic event.

 

Signs of cardiac screening

 

  1. Painful chest, discomfort, pressure in the chest
  2. Collapsing, sudden passing out
  3. Hardness to breathe
  4. Palpitations, cannot do exercises
  5. A prior seizure during an activity