The sudden unexpected death of a 15-year-old Calhoun County girl from a cardiac arrhythmia has since prompted a call for increased awareness of undetected heart problems.

The use of an electrocardiogram as an effective diagnostic tool and the automated external defibrillator as a life-saving device have both been touted by health officials and parents who have lost children to undetected heart ailments which lead to their sudden demise.

'Athletes are at risk'

Cardiac arrhythmia is abnormality in the heart's electrical system that causes it to beat irregularly, too slowly or too quickly. This can affect the heart's pumping action and lead to sudden cardiac arrest. Dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pains, heart palpitations and light-headedness are among the symptoms that some people may not even exhibit but can be potentially deadly.

Health officials tout the EKG as an effective diagnostic tool used to ide.jpgy arrhythmia. Medications, cardioversion, catheter ablation, a pacemaker and/or an internal cardioverter defibrillator are among treatments once the condition is ide.jpgied and diagnosed.

McKeowen, a ninth-grade Calhoun Academy student, however, didn't have this luxury after collapsing during an evening jog with a friend a week ago. The Cameron resident began feeling dizzy before going into respiratory and cardiac arrest. She died later that afternoon despite the application of advanced life support from EMS.

"She had a cardiac arrhythmia," Calhoun County Coroner Donny Porth said. "There was evidence of a leaky heart valve found, but I have no documentation of that." Porth said it would be approximately two weeks before he'd have a full autopsy report in hand.

McKeowen had two brothers, Aaron and Taylor. Porth said her siblings should be checked themselves for signs of cardiac arrhythmia.

"I think it could very well be genetic and, yes indeed, it could be passed down," Porth said. "In that case, the siblings should be watched closely for that and even have an EKG and see if they have any abnormalities now."

McKeowen was a student athlete who enjoyed playing basketball. Orangeburg cardiologist Dr. John Hutto said athletes can be at risk for developing conditions leading to sudden death.

"Athletes are at risk for developing either an enlarged heart or changes in the rhythm of the heart muscle. Either one of those can come from exercise, rigorous exercise," he said, adding that those conditions put athletes at risk of sudden death, sometimes called sudden unexpected death.

Hutto said most individuals involved in sudden death cases have an unrecognized heart problem, but, fortunately, such deaths are not that common.

"Because it is so infrequent, it makes big news. Probably the least expensive and most helpful way of ruling out problems is to at least get an EKG on athletes prior to them participating in athletic activities and to investigate those that are abnormal," Hutto said, adding that non-experts can be easily trained to perform an EKG. "It won't necessarily catch everyone, but it'll catch the majority of them."

He said it might be a good idea to include EKGs in the routine physicals athletes get, noting that the use of AEDs is critical in helping save lives.

"What happens is when a person falls out, they usually pass out and are dying from an abnormal heart rhythm, which would be brought back to normal with an AED," Hutto said. "The faster it is applied, the faster a normal rhythm can be obtained."

The price of AEDs, he said, has considerably dropped, from as high as $3,000 to as low as $800 to $1,000.

"An AED should be available at any place where there's is large public gathering, including sporting and church events and a golf course," Hutto said, noting that every ailment leading to sudden death doesn't have to be genetic.

"You can have sudden death from a blood clot to the lung. That's uncommon in youth athletes, though you can have it from some unusual inherited condition," he said.

'I want to let all parents know'

Laura Friend of Ft. Worth, Texas, is co-founder of Parent Heart Watch, a state-by-state network of parents dedicated to reducing the often disastrous effects of sudden cardiac arrest in children. Parent Heart Watch enables information sharing, support networks and the formulation of nationwide programs that meet its mission.

Friend said Kelly's story compelled her to want to have even more awareness spread on the dangers of SCA. She fought for this year's passage of Senate Bill 7 in the Texas Legislature. The law requires that all schools -- elementary, middle, high and private -- have an AED, including on all athletic fields, locker rooms and gymnasiums.

"Starting next year, all the students that graduate will also have to be CPR/AED trained upon graduation. We've also added a pilot heart screening program to screen middle school children," Friend said.

Friend lost her 12-year-old daughter, Sarah, in 2004 to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is characterized by a thickened heart muscle without having high blood pressure.

"She had an unknown heart condition that many kids have but can't be picked up with a physical. Had she had an AED, she could've been here," she said. "If a school can purchase new uniforms, they can purchase an AED to save someone's life. There's all kinds of ways to raise funds for them. I've donated 30 AEDs this year.

"I want to let all parents know of the dangers of sudden cardiac arrest. They need to be prepared in the use of AEDs and CPR and know that it is not a disease for adults."

Patricia Sims of Irmo is a Parent Watch member who also lost her son, Victor Sims Jr., to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in 2003. She and her husband, Victor, started the Vic Sims Foundation, which make referrals for heart screenings for interested individuals.

The foundation is not just about keeping her son's memory alive but increasing public awareness and promoting early detection of risks associated with SCA.

"He had gone into cardiac arrest because of an enlarged heart. It had gone undetected, and he didn't have any symptoms," said Sims, who cautioned parents to not get complacent with their child's heart health. "Some kids have been fortunate enough to have dizzy spells and their heart checked to find out what's wrong but, for the most part, it's usually too late when they find out."

Sims said the infrequency of SCA should not be a reason to take it lightly.

"People think it can't happen, but it does," she said. "The question is not if it's gonna happen, but when."

T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by e-mail at dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

You must be logged in to comment.