STORIES
of the
HEART
Witness the devastation that Sudden Cardiac Arrest is having on our youth — stories of seemingly healthy young lives lost suddenly and unexpectedly to SCA, and of those who suffered severely debilitating consequences of SCA — all because an underlying heart condition went undetected or the appropriate live-saving actions were not taken.
David Turner
David Turner

David died suddenly at age 20 of a suspected heart arrhythmia. He had spent the day at work, drove home and parked the car in the driveway to call his girlfriend. Their conversation ended abruptly with David sighing. His mother came home from work and found him slumped over in his locked car. David’s father ran to the vehicle and punched out the car window, pulled his son from the car, placed him on the ground and started CPR but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful. David had no prior symptoms. His autopsy showed a few irregular cells in the left ventricle of his heart.
Zeke Upshaw
Zeke Upshaw

Zeke was a professional athlete playing at the highest level of his sport, college educated and full of life. He was recognized for helping his team clinch their first play-off spot in franchise history. He collapsed on the court in the fourth quarter of a game in Grand Rapids and died. No CPR or AED was used. He was 26 years old. Spreading awareness is now his family’s mission.
Nicky Varrenti
Nicky Varrenti

Nicky played in football games over the weekend. On September 6, 2004, his dad came to wake him for football practice and found that Nicky had died in his sleep. He was 16 years old. Cause of the fatal sudden cardiac arrest was found to be Cardiomyopathy.
Darius Vasseghi
Darius Vasseghi

Darius, age 18, collapsed at home and died on May 30, 2005. Other than becoming tired upon effort as a child, he had no prior symptoms.
The cause of death Aorta Hypoplasia (narrowing of the aorta) and left ventricular hypertrophy.
Matt Velez
Matt Velez

Matt had experienced three surgeries for a congenital heart defect. He was standing on the sidelines of a basketball game in PE class on November 19, 2001, walked on court and collapsed. CPR was performed and his heart re-started after three defibrillator shocks. Matt did not recover and was removed from life support six days later. He was 17 years old.
Breanna Vergara
Breanna Vergara

Breanna, age 11, collapsed suddenly at dance class. CPR was started immediately and continued on the way to the hospital. However, they were unable to revive Breanna. The cause of death was pre-excitation Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome.
Ryleigh Vigneux
Ryleigh Vigneux

Ciara Horton-Van Der Vliet
Ciara Horton-Van Der Vliet

Ciara, age 18, suffered sudden cardiac arrest at her home prior to school one morning. She received CPR and a shock from an AED, which stabilized her heart. She was then transported to the hospital, where she was placed on life support. Ciara never regained consciousness and passed away seven days later. The underlying cause of her death is unknown.
Ryan Wagner
Ryan Wagner

Ryan, age 17, suffered sudden cardiac arrest three months shy of his 18th birthday. He was planning on attending the University of Delaware to pursue an education in engineering.
Peyton Walker
Peyton Walker

Peyton, age 19, suffered sudden cardiac arrest in November 2013 related to a genetic heart condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
Daniel Sung Walser
Daniel Sung Walser

Daniel, age 19, died of a sudden cardiac arrhythmia on February 10, 2003, during an intra-mural soccer game after playing a few minutes. Daniel had been diagnosed with
a congenital ventricular septal defect (VSD) and was seen by a pediatric cardiologist annually. Each year, he was given echocardiogram and EKG tests. His family was told he could do any sports he wanted as long as the exercise did not give him trouble. A stress test was never done. Had defibrillators been available the day he collapsed he may have been saved.
Taylor Waltman
Taylor Waltman

Taylor, age 12, suffered cardiac arrest while running laps during soccer practice. The cause of Taylor’s cardiac arrest was Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. She had no prior signs or symptoms of a heart condition.
Kelly Weaver
Kelly Weaver

Jonathan Wenhold
Jonathan Wenhold

Jonathan, age 9, was in fourth grade. He was in PE class jumping rope, then sat down, talked briefly with another child and collapsed. It took several minutes to realize his plight. EMS revived him with defibrillation, but he had already sustained brain damage. He survived eight days when his parents decided it was best to let him pass. It was determined he had Long QT Syndrome.
Jacob West
Jacob West

Jake, age 17, was an athletic high school junior who participated in both football and lacrosse. He was at football practice when he suffered sudden cardiac arrest from an undetected heart condition known as Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia (ARVD). He never demonstrated any signs or symptoms that anything was wrong. His sister has also been diagnosed with ARVD.
Ryan Wetters
Ryan Wetters

Ryan unexpectedly passed away in his sleep at age 22. The coroner listed Ryan’s cause of death as cardiac dysrhythmia. No symptoms had ever been noticed.
Antwon Whitehead
Antwon Whitehead

Antwon, age 15, collapsed during basketball practice at school. An AED was available, but no one knew how to use it. Antwon appeared healthy and had no prior symptoms of a heart condition. The cause of Antwon’s cardiac arrest was an enlarged heart.
Brandon Williams
Brandon Williams

Terrell Wilson
Terrell Wilson

Terrell, age 14, suffered cardiac arrest due to an undetected dissection of the aorta. Terrell began playing football in the fifth grade. Despite undergoing numerous physicals over the years, an underlying heart condition was never mentioned.
Cory Wilson
Cory Wilson

Cory, age 21, suffered cardiac arrest while in class at college. An AED was in the campus security patrol car, but was never used. The cause of death was an unexplained cardiac arrhythmia.
Danny Woods
Danny Woods

As a child, Danny had a couple of fainting episodes, including one in PE class in grade school. An alert PE teacher demanded that Danny be checked. An examination discovered a heart murmur. Danny was watched and treated for several years by a pediatric cardiologist. In high school, his family was told that Danny could join the swim team and no longer needed to be seen or treated. On August 21, 2007, Danny returned from a long weekend of swimming, sunning and hauling firewood with his fiancé. When Danny did not report for work the next morning, it was discovered that he had died in the night. He was 29 years old.
Jesse Yeakle
Jesse Yeakle

Jesse died in his sleep on October 1, 2003, at age 23, after open heart surgery to replace his aortic valve. He had a heart murmur since childhood. After a routine dental cleaning, he developed a heart infection that required aortic valve replacement. The mechanical valve began to come loose and his sudden cardiac arrest occurred after a second open heart surgery.
Bryan Yu
Bryan Yu

Kevin Yu
Kevin Yu

Janet Zilinski
Janet Zilinski

Janet, age 11, had just started cheering practice and had done some light stretching/warm-ups. The girls were jogging a lap around the football field when Janet told her friend that she was tired and was going to lay down. She went into cardiac arrest and was resuscitated on the field by a pediatric trauma nurse. Janet’s heart stopped several times en route to the hospital. CPR was administered in the ambulance, and Janet was alive and conscious upon arrival to the hospital. She spoke with her parents and was coherent and stable. Her parents were told that Janet would be OK. A short time later, she went into cardiac arrest and could not be revived. Janet’s physical two months earlier had not detected any problems.
Stuart Zurvalec
Stuart Zurvalec

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Legacy of the Lost is dedicated to all the young lives lost to Sudden Cardiac Arrest.
FOR PARENTS WHO HAVE LOST A CHILD TO SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST
If you are grieving the death of your child, or know bereaved parents struggling with the emotional trauma of their tragic loss, please reach out to Parent Heart Watch for support or to share your story.