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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.