Louis died at age 14 during a lacrosse game. In his position as goalie, Louis blocked what appeared to be a routine shot with his chest protector, took a few steps and collapsed. Paramedics arrived with a defibrillator almost 15 minutes later. Louis died from Commotio Cordis, a syndrome which occurs from blunt impact trauma during the critical cycle in the rhythm of the heart.

Sarah, age 31, was a vibrant Spanish teacher at Tapestry High School in Buffalo, NY. She had organized a trip to Costa Rica for 11 of her students. While on the white water rafting trip, she collapsed and died in the raft. There was no AED but CPR was used to no avail. She had no prior history of heart issues.

Daniel Naim Ajlouny, age 21, had a sudden cardiac arrest in October 2007. A student at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, Daniel was an avid outdoorsman and adventurer. The cause of death was Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM).

Jack, a 17-year-old senior and offensive lineman at a top division high school, was on his way to helping his team win their 6th State Championship in a row with a landslide win. At an evening practice a few days later he felt dizzy and collapsed in the end zone. Athletic trainers attempted CPR and used an AED immediately, and upon arrival EMS continued for 20 minutes but Jack was pronounced dead in the emergency room. Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy was determined as the underlying cause of death. His family founded Heart to Heart: The Jack Alkhatib Foundation to raise awareness of undetected heart conditions by providing free echocardiograms to students and student athletes.

Zach, age 15, was diagnosed at age 1 with A/V congenital heart block. He was monitored by a pediatric cardiologist for years, and had successful surgery to implant a pacemaker at age 12. As a result he was given full clearance without restrictions, except for extreme contact sports like football. In July 2013, Zach had a normal EKG and stress test. On October 8, 2013, he died in his sleep from the onset of a sudden arrhythmia.

Chloe was at a pool party in May 2019 when she suffered sudden cardiac arrest while playing in the pool. Bystanders called 911 and administered CPR immediately. Due to a family history of Long QT syndrome type 1, her mother carried an AED which was ready to be used. However, the 911 operator advised against using the AED alleging Chloe was breathing, even though she was not breathing normally. Despite her mother’s efforts, parents at the party wouldn’t allow her to use the AED due to the 911 operator’s advice. Chloe passed away at just 5 years-old

In October 2013, Chloe’s 11-year-old brother went into cardiac arrest while playing an unsupervised game of flag football at school.  CPR was administered, but an AED was not available.

Elijah, age 11, had been diagnosed with Long QT syndrome type 1 and was taking medication for his condition. In October 2013, Elijah went into sudden cardiac arrest while playing an unsupervised game of flag football at school.  CPR was administered, but there was no AED available at the school.

Six years later, Elijah’s 5 year-old sister also suffered sudden cardiac arrest while playing in a swimming pool. Bystanders called 911 and administered CPR immediately. Her mother carried an AED, which was ready to be used, however, the 911 operator advised against using the AED alleging Chloe was breathing, even though she was not breathing normally.

Sean, age 10, was rollerblading when he collapsed on February 15, 2004.  Those that witnessed his collapse thought he was “just having a seizure”.   Sean received CPR, but defibrillation was not available for more than 10 minutes later, when EMS arrived. The underlying cause of his cardiac arrest remains unknown.

Dylan complained of not feeling well for over a year, but numerous hospital consults insisted it was the aftermath of a football concussion he had two years prior. Concluding it was simply a slow recovery process, no one ever performed an EKG. On December 26, 2015, Dylan was found in his room after passing away in his sleep. After months of inquiry by his family, the medical examiner finally did a genetic test and found Dylan had Brugada Syndrome. Dylan’s mom was also tested and was found to have it, too.

David was almost 29 years old when he came home from work, fell asleep on the couch and never woke up. He had been monitored throughout his life for an irregular heartbeat, but his racing heart was ultimately attributed to periodic panic attacks so a cardiac condition was never diagnosed. He lived with his younger brother, who was away for the weekend when David went into cardiac arrest, so no CPR or AED was administered. His brother found him two days later.

Eric, 25, was identified as having Long QT while getting a physical for a job. He followed up with a cardiologist who advised him to take medication and to refrain from participating in endurance training of any sort.  Eric ultimately chose not to take his medication due to cost and how it made him feel.  He passed away in his sleep and no one was there to administer CPR or use an AED.

John was 16 years old when he collapsed while playing basketball with his friends. The cause of death was undiagnosed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

A1C Baker passed away during a surface swim at US Air Force dive school in Florida. The cause of death was listed as drowning but they were unable to determine why he lost consciousness while swimming. He was 24.

Sharon, age 17, collapsed dead after talking to friends at her front door. The EMTs arrived in just over one minute, yet did not attempt defibrillation. This was performed at the hospital, but too late. The coroner ruled that Sharon’s death was caused by a recent case of mononucleosis. A cardiologist later suggested that Long QT syndrome was the cause. After consultations and testing, it was confirmed that Sharon had Type 1 Long QT. Her mother and younger sister were also diagnosed and given appropriate treatment.

On March 29, 2005, Chad, age 17, was playing rugby for his school. He was standing on the field laughing with his friends about a play that he had just run when he collapsed on the field and died from undiagnosed Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.

Jordan, age 13, had been diagnosed with aortic valve stenosis at age 6. Five years later he was checked for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but there was no definitive diagnosis. One Friday evening, Jordan went to bed late after staying up most of the night playing video games. When his mother tried to wake him the next day, Jordan was unresponsive. He had suffered sudden cardiac arrest and died in his sleep.

Tariq, age 15, was warming up for track practice at school when he collapsed in front of his schoolmates, coaches, teachers, and his mother. The underlying cause of death is unknown.

Anthony played football since he was nine years old, and participated in other sports throughout his youth. Each year he was required to have a pre-participation physical examination. Not once did this PPE require an exam of his heart. Anthony suffered a sudden cardiac arrest while driving after a light workout at the Kansas State University weight room. Anthony was 20 years old when he died from undiagnosed Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM). He never complained of symptoms.

Cameron, age 18, collapsed while playing a pickup game of soccer with his brother and friends. There was no AED on the field. The cause of Cameron’s death was Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia (ARVD), a genetic condition. After Cameron’s death, his 15 year old brother was diagnosed with the same condition, had a defibrillator implanted in his chest and is no longer able to participate in any competitive sport.

Janna, age 15, was a seemingly healthy and athletic. She had two fainting episodes during an 11-month period. The first episode occurred while sitting in class at school. An electrocardiogram was done in the emergency room, and was read only by the ER physician. Her parents were told everything was fine, and that all her tests (lab work, ECG, and CT scan of her brain) were normal. Doctors advised that she eat more breakfast, drink plenty of fluids and use more salt on her food.

After Janna’s second fainting episode, which occurred upon arising from sleep, she was seen by a neurologist who said that she was probably having seizures, but not often enough to be put on medication. Janna passed in her sleep on December 31, 2002. After Janna’s death her family learned that her father, as well as two cousins, also have Long QT Syndrome.

Vari was a lifelong, multi-sport athlete since age six and a varsity four-year starter on his high school football team. While his talents received collegiate attention, he opted to attend community college and focus on advancing his younger brother’s NFL aspirations, which paid off when he achieved a full ride to a D1 football college. In 2017, Vari then transferred to Chowan University where he collapsed playing basketball with friends and died at age 21. CPR was not immediately administered. While always active and healthy, there had been a previous occasion when Vari collasped with chest pain, but was cleared by both the ER and his pediatrician, both citing anxiety as the cause.

Virginia “Ginger” Bevis, age 19, was at work when she collapsed. Her co-workers thought she was joking. When they realized she was in distress, no one knew CPR and her workplace didn’t have an AED. She had been down 10 minutes before the arrival of EMTs, who worked for 30 minutes to restore a pulse and blood pressure. She was diagnosed as being brain dead and was removed from life support on March 15, 2002. The cause of death was determined to be cardiac arrhythmia secondary to Mitral Valve Prolapse.

Ryan, age 29, died from a sudden cardiac arrest while watching television after coming home from work. He was in excellent health and had been a tennis teaching professional for a number of years. Autopsy revealed no cardiac abnormalities and an arrhythmia was presumed to be the cause of his sudden cardiac arrest.

Nick, age 19, an outstanding college student and athlete collapsed during football practice. Prior to collapsing on the sidelines, Nick had complained to coaches of feeling light-headed, dizzy and as having chest pain.  His annual checkups and sports physicals never revealed any health issues.  The underlying cause of Nick’s cardiac arrest was hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

On April 21, 1997, Justin was running in the yard when he told his dad that his heart was racing. Minutes later, Justin went into distress and appeared to be having a seizure. His mother immediately called 911.

First responders were at the home in three minutes, but Justin was in full cardiac arrest. Despite tireless efforts by paramedics at his home, in the ambulance and at the hospital, Justin was never revived. Justin had been an active, healthy nine-and-a-half-year-old and no cause for his sudden arrhythmia was found.

Ryan, age 17, collapsed and died during football conditioning drills during a morning workout before school on February 20, 2003. Cause of death was undetected Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM).

Jeff, age 17, collapsed during the first day of football practice in August, 2007, and died one week later. With a quicker response (EMT, CPR and defibrillation) on the field, he would have survived. The school did have a defibrillator near the gymnasium, but no one retrieved it. They also did not call 911 for at least three to four minutes after his collapse. The underlying cause of Jeff’s cardiac arrest remains unknown.

When 21–year-old Chrissy was 21 became pregnant, everything appeared fine, except she was dizzy a lot and had a rapid heartbeat.  She was diagnosed with epilepsy.  One July 25, 2002, eight months after baby Jessica was born, Chrissy suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. Her brother Jimmy died suddenly on April 15, 2000. It was not determined that the family had Long QT syndrome until 2003.

Kyle, age 16, and a track athlete collapsed while talking to his teammates and soon after running the 400 meter. He received CPR almost immediately by his teammates and coaches. An AED on the field was used. Kyle was rushed to a local hospital and then air lifted to a larger hospital.  At first, no one knew what was wrong with Kyle; some believed it was a seizure, but doctors determined it was SCA after looking at the AED report.  He was in a drug-induced coma and when taken off all medication he suffered another SCA that took his life.  Kyle had been seen by a cardiologist because of fainting spells that happened to him twice before his death, but doctors found him to be healthy and cleared him to participate in sports.  The cause of Kyle’s death was anomalous aortic origin of coronary artery.

Michael was born with a series of congenital heart defects and underwent full corrective surgery at the age of five. Never requiring heart medication, he lived a full and active life. His only restrictions were sports related, no football or rugby. Michael loved all sports, especially basketball which he was cleared to play. He was followed by a cardiology team and underwent two cardiac catheterization procedures 11 years post surgery where everything was found to be normal and healthy. Four months later Michael had a stress ECG before leaving for summer camp. On his fourth day of camp, after playing basketball Michael suffered sudden cardiac death at the age of 16.

Since age 7 Bailee had complained that her heart “felt funny” and sometimes hurt. Over the next several years Bailee had various electrocardiograms and wore holter monitors. At age11 she also had an echocardiogram and was found to have an atrial septal defect (ASD). Surgery to correct the ASD was performed at age 13. After surgery, Bailee continued to complain about her heart “feeling funny” and pain. After electrocardiograms and echocardiograms, the cardiologist said that Bailee’s heart looked great.

At age 15, Bailee suffered cardiac arrest while at a sleepover at her best friend’s house. She looked like she was having a seizure and the 911 operator instructed her friend’s mother not to do CPR as she was seizing. When EMS arrived, they used the AED to shock Bailee’s heart, but rhythm never returned to normal. The cause of death is unknown.

Richard was born with a double outlet right ventricle, ventricular septal defect and aortic stenosis. After two surgeries to repair heart defects, he spent the next 12 years without medication or complications and was active in sports. On March 29, 2000, at age 13, Richard became faint during physical education class. Shortly after, he went into cardiac arrest and died.

Justin, age 16, was at swim practice at his high school when he suffered sudden cardiac rest from undiagnosed Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.  Justin was a scholar, actor and an artist who won an Emmy for “God help us achieve world peace – Justin Carr’s Story”.

United States Naval Academy Midshipman 3rd Class (sophomore) Duke Carrillo, 21, was a natural leader and a role model to many young men and women. He worked his entire life with a constant goal to serve his country. Duke was a 2018 graduate of the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, Rhode Island, who entered the USNA class of 2022 and was a 4.0 student as a Quantitative Economics major.

It was Saturday afternoon, February 8, 2020, when Duke collapsed during the 1.5 mile run portion of the Physical Readiness Test that is run by all midshipmen every six months at the USNA. The lives of so many were changed in that moment forever.

Timothy, age 22, collapsed after running up three flights of stairs. A friend found him four hours later. Although doctors had found an aortic valve issue when Timothy was 12 years old and suspected Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (WPW), no treatment was offered. The Carroll family was told that “Tim was perfectly healthy and would live a long time.”

Geremy, age 14, collapsed while playing basketball during PE class on May 25, 2011. He did not receive proper care for more than 20 minutes after collapasing. The underlying cause of his cardiac arrest is unknown.

Johannes experienced much during his 25 years, enjoying many activities and travels. He died of sudden cardiac arrest shortly after arriving at his office, following a workout at the gym. Johannes had shown no symptoms, and appeared to be in the best of health. He was never given a heart exam.