Life & Death – How Fragile Both Are!

Posted on 04/10/2010 @ 01:29 PM

I am extremely PROUD to share with all who read this and follow me that during our very first week of the “SafeBeat Initiative” launching our preventive heart screening program in Hillsborough County, FL that a discovery of a “detectable and treatable” heart arrhythmia was made on Connor Moore, 15, that without preventive heart screening would otherwise have gone undetected.  Within a few short hours of detection, Connor was seen by our partners at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fl where he was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome.  He is now under doctor’s care and has been told that his condition is 100% curable.  Connor is an extremely personable,  active, athletic young man with a very long life to live, and he and his parent’s have reached out to us and so eloquently expressed extreme gratitude for the mission we are on.  I am so proud of Connor, his accomplishments, love for his family and his zest for life, which he can now appreciate to maximum capacity for a lifetime.

The life of this ”ONE” young man, and there are and can/ will be many others, is the very reason for the fortitude, passion and mission that “is” THE CARDIAC ARRHYTHMIA SYNDROMES FOUNDATION and the “SafeBeat Initiative”!!!!!!

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2010/4/18/608614.html

We look forward to moving forward with the “SafeBeat Initiative” in Hillsborough County, Fl over the course of the next school years and, with great anticipation and expectation,  in other counties and states as they begin to see what we, and many others, have believed in all along; that “screening hearts does save lives”!

On a much different note, sadly today we are also mourning the loss of yet  another student athlete, Alexander Doucette, 18 years old, whose life was cut short at track practice here in Bolton, MA just yesterday.  Right now there is no explanation for his death, but in the space that I am so proudly in, young athletes are quite frequently known to be stricken with sudden cardiac arrest caused by cardiac arrhythmias.  Until there is a cause of death, I will, with great sadness at the loss of Alexander, express only that all of us here send our deepest and sincerest condolences to his family, friends and community.  There is such a deep profound loss whenever a young, vibrant, seeminghly healthy young son, brother, uncle and friend suddenly is no longer with us, whatever the cause.  I will continue to keep Alexander, and all whose lives he touched, in my thoughts and prayers during this most difficult of times.

http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/student-track-athlete-dies-after-collapse-20100419

For those of you who know me, and for those who may not, I have experienced the loss of a child, my son Marc, and I can tell you that 25 years after the fact his precious life and his sudden death are both still fragile in my life.  Both stories that I have shared today have brought me to tears.  It really truly brings home the reality of just how fragile both life and death are!