Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.
- Napoleon Hill

A quote I came across recently that I want to share to help change that bad habit known as “procrastination”.  Over the course of the past few days we have had two (2) tragic, public  sudden deaths caused by enlarged hearts (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy – the leading cause of sudden death in all young people).  One is Gaines Adams, defensive end for the Chicago Bears, age 26!    

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nfl/news/story?id=4833908

The second tragedy of the past few days was Jeron Lewis, the Southern Indiana Basketball Center, age 21!  (About to become a father.)

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=4829400

Both family, friends, teammates and community left stunned by their early and sudden deaths.  No one interviewed can seem to understand it!  As I have stated many, many times in my blogs, in over 80% of the cases of sudden cardiac arrest, caused by cardiac arrhythmias, the first symptom is “death”.  YET, it is “detectable and treatable” through preventive heart screening, including an electrocardiogram (EKG/ ECG). 

My last blog was taking the time to “smell the roses”.  An appropriate phrase knowing all too well how short life can be.  But when will people sit up and take notice of this insidious disease state that is taking our youth across this country, recognize it and help do something about it?  How many more stories like this do we need to hear and read; not to mention the thousands that you never hear or read about each year?  Now I say, “take the time to get the facts”!  Help those of us out here in this space “screen hearts and save young lives”!

Another great article that came out this week was written by David Epstein of Sports Illustrated.  He lost a dear friend a few years back to a cardiac arrhythmia and is attempting to raise awareness, as well, to this insidious disease.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/david_epstein/01/18/adams/index.html?xid=cnnbin&hpt=Sbin

Again,  remember, once diagnosed, these syndromes are treatable, and individuals with these conditions can have normal life spans and lifestyles.

Please take the time to listen to these two stories and read Mr. Epstein’s article. 

Regardless of where you are in life, get motivated, feel inspired.  Through connection comes “life”!

Our hearts and prayers go out these families, friends and communities along with the thousands of others who have experienced this tragedy and are left in the wake of insurmountable grief. 

Join the fight to prevent SCA in our youth – it’s a reality!

The end of this past week  I needed to drive to Maine to take care of my elderly mother who is having some medical issues.  I have been driving to Maine for the last 30 years (or so) but this trip seemed so different.  With my dad having passed away recently, and now my mother living there alone, I drove there with a different perspective I guess.  I suddenly found myself “taking the time” to really notice the “charm” and nostalgia that Maine offfers.  Let’s just say, I stopped to smell the roses.  I pulled over several times to take in the simplicity and beauty of it all, captured it on my camera, and now want to share it with you. 

Simple Beauty!

I have ALWAYS been one to marvel at the spectacular scenic views this country has to offer but the simple beauty of nature, for some reason, seems to get lost or possibly taken for granted.  These two horses out on a crisp winter day is “simple beauty”.  I didn’t take it for granted today!

Spectacular In Its Day!

The era of train travel!  In just looking at this picture I can envision the era in which this was popular both in travel and industry.  The importance it had — now power, seats, windows and cell phones are the most important thing when traveling.  As the world turns! 

You Can't Think of Maine without Thinking of "Moose"!

What is Maine without “MOOSE”!  –  Whether real or art.  You wouldn’t want to meet one on the road in the dark but they are spectacular creatures!  No one would think to disrespect a “Moose”!

Anyone Interested in Buying?

This old lunch wagon just put a smile on my face!  You can make up your own story with this picture!

Ice Fishing on the Frozen Lake!

The little dark spots in the distance of this picture are people “ice fishing” on the frozen lake.  I have always been fascinated with the attraction to this sport!  Maybe being out there in your own little hut and the simple amenities needed to survive the day, with patience as your virtue, is a form of taking time to “smell the roses”. 

One "BIG" Happy Family!

Wood carving, besides being an expert art form, is fascinating, interesting and fun among many other adjectives.  This particular wood carving, every time I have gone by it in the past, has captured my attention and made me smile.  This day I wanted to take it home!  Don’t ask me why?  My neighbors would instantly hate me I’m sure; but clearly in this carving they are a family!

The Simple Beauty at the End of a Day!

Lastly, the beautiful fascinating magic of the setting sky at the end of a day!  We all see it every day but do we really “see” it?  I did on this day and it served as an appreciation for the beauty that is “LIFE”. 

Have a wonderful Sunday all!  And in this busy, fast-moving, modern world that we live in, I hope that you get an opportunity to “smell the roses”!

There is so much creativity happening in the modern “blog” world in order to get your message out there that it has me backing up sometimes and wondering how quickly time passes and that “simpler times” were just yesterday! 

Everyone has a catch phrase, a picture or a gimmick to capture one’s attention.  What did we do yesterday, before blogging, twittering, etc.?  I guess my answer to that would be that maybe we just didn’t reach as many people as we can now.

With all of that being said, I particularly, am grateful that we can/ do reach so many more people now through these avenues that to not take advantage of these modern times and educate people on what you “KNOW” can save young people’s lives just seems ludicrous. 

In what I deal with everyday, “creativity” almost seems like it should be a foreign thought when it comes  to the importance of the life, and sometimes, death of our youth; yet it is a necessity in order to get people’s attention.  No one likes to hear of an unexpected death of a child, or even a disease state that is taking our young people silently and unexpectedly at an alarming rate every day in this country, BUT it needs to be shared because in sharing that information, “LIFE” can be the pot of gold at the end of that rainbow; not some sort of monetary gain in this case.

 LIFE – that is my creative thought for today!  Sound absurd?  Just take a moment out of your busy existence today and think about what your life means to you and, more importantly, what the life of your children, or other children in your lives, means to you.  I don’t think it will take but just one moment!

My “creativity” for today is a picture of  “my famliy”.  We have experienced the loss of a child.  I don’t believe that there is anyone out there that would ever expect to lose a child unexpectedly from a “detectable and treatable” disease, yet it happens every day.  My mission is to change the statistics of that!  And I don’t believe that there is a parent or person out there who expects anything different for any child/ young adult than to be one of innocence, fun, activity, health, etc. – and that is exactly what it can be!  Through detection of “cardiac arrhythmia syndromes” comes treatment and “LIFE”!

These Are Our "Living" Children

All across America it is becoming commonplace that in most schools, sports facilities, airports, corporate offices, government buildings, etc., AEDs (Automatic External Defibrillators) are being placed within.  There is also a lot of movement going on toward CPR training and training in the use of these AEDs.  Why is that?

For those who may not be familiar with what an AED actually is, I will tell you that it is a life-saving tool for those who have suffered a sudden cardiac arrest.  It has the ability to check a person’s heart rhythm and recognize a rhythm that requires a shock.  To put it in simpler terms; it is a device that jump starts a heart back into “normal rhythms” and they have been proven to save many lives. 

Sudden cardiac arrest can take place at any age.  If a person is over the age of 35, the most common cause is coronary artery disease, but in our young people it is a whole different story!  In over 80% of the cases of sudden cardiac arrest in young people, “death” is the first symptom that something is wrong.  It then just becomes a “Tragedy”.  That unto itself is a tragedy, never mind what the family of the victim goes through after such an event.

Shockingly – Each month 600 young Americans die suddenly and unexpectedly from Cardiac Arrhythmia Syndromes. Because there are usually no symptoms leading up to the death, it is probably most likely that the cause of death will remain “undetermined”, which, in my personal opinion, is the worst clinical scenario a parent can receive when just having lost a young son or young daughter.  The reason for the “undetermined diagnosis”, I am told in discussions I have had across the country, is that with electrical problems of the heart, the heart can appear normal after death occurs.

Cardiac Arrhythmia Syndromes, which is a major disease state taking our youth, are electrical disorders of the heart that and are” life-threatening”.  This disease state is what is taking the lives of our young people silently, suddenly and so unexpectedly.  They are also genetic and hereditary and, more importantly, are “detectable and treatable” when diagnosed.  How does one diagnose a Cardiac Arrhythmia?  A 12-lead EKG/ ECG (electrocardiogram) is an effective medical device for detection.  It is designed to measure the electrical activity of the heart.  The sensitivity of the EKG/ ECG for detecting the leading cause of sudden unexpected death, known as Hypertrophic Cardiomyopath (HCM) , is 95%.  Once a cardiac arrhythmia is detected, because it is genetic and hereditary, if you test 1^st and 2^nd degree family members, nine (9) additional cases, on average, are found.

Right now we have AEDs attempting to do the job of saving the lives of those who suffer cardiac arrest.  Admittedly, there is a problem if the country is demanding AEDs be placed almost anywhere and everywhere.  Are our young lost in this?  I believe they are!  It’s hard to imagine a young adult in the prime of their life suffering sudden cardiac arrest.

 I, by no means, want to take away or diminish this life-saving device.  Unfortunately, though, a person has to go into sudden cardiac arrest first and hope they survive through the use of an AED.  There must be an AED within 4 minutes of someone suffering cardiac arrest in order to save their life.  For every minute that passes without defibrillation, a persons’ chances of survival “decrease” by 10%.  For simplicity, for every 100 people that go down, only 10 will ever get up.

Children over the age of 8 can be treated with a standard AED.  For children 1 -8, the American Heart Association recommends that attenuated, or long, narrow or sometimes tapered, pads must be purchased separately.  Also critical, a person attempting to use an AED must “FIRST” recognize the signs of sudden cardiac arrest and know where the AED is placed; in the best case scenario know how to use the AED and additionally, hopefully, know how to perform CPR. 

Cardiac arrhythmias which are causing sudden and unexpected death in our youth has been categorized as rare in most literature that your read.  However, it  is not “rare”; it is common and happening at a rate of 20 young people per day in this country between the ages of 6-18, 40 per day between the ages of 0-25.   That is not my figure; that comes from the Heart Rhythm Society and I believe that those statistics are underestimated because there is no reporting system that exists here in the United States.  I believe, and I am not alone in my beliefs, that many deaths, including some of the ones declared “undetermined”, are wrongly attributed to dry drowning, unexplained car accidents, eating disorders, possible drug use, etc.  The real tragedy here is that these arrhythmias can be “TREATED” when diagnosed.  For anyone to pass off the death of our youth caused by Cardiac Arrhythmia Syndromes because they believe it is “rare” is inexcusable and shocking; especially when there is cost-effective methods and preventive heart screening programs out there for detecting such conditions.

People, including some in the medical community, are depending on the false sense of security an AED brings.  Considering the statistics reported above; AGAIN, a sudden cardiac arrest episode needs to be recognized “IMMEDIATELY”, an AED has to be readily accessible along with the hope that someone close by, before medical help can arrive, be somewhat knowledgable in its use and that either that same person, or someone close by,  is also knowledgable in CPR in the event of  such a sudden cardiac arrest emergency.  In order to prevent young people from “going down in the first place”, some are simply hiding behind the words “rare” and “not cost effective” in order to dismiss what is happening every day all across this country!  Are our children’s lives not worth it?   Tell that to a parent who has just lost a seemingly healthy, active young son or daughter to this insidious and pervasive disease state; remembering that in 80% of the cases the first symptom is “death”.  When tragedy does strike, some just throw their hands up in the air and justify it by saying “nothing could be done” or it was an “act of God”; left  out there for the family to wonder “why or how this could have happened to their child” and live with the pain and grief that comes along with such a tragedy. 

We live in modern times with modern advances and if we have the ability to make a difference in this world in a cost-effective way through EKG/ ECG preventive heart screening programs which can diagnose a child with an arrhythmia and prevent that child from dying needlessly, or even going down in the first place, where is the resistance?

AEDs are a wonderful life–saving tool; more so is PREVENTIVE HEART SCREENING.  Let’s “screen hearts and save lives”!  Our youth deserve to live long, healthy, happy, productive lives.  It’s the reason we give them LIFE; not be cut short by a “detectable and treatable” disease!

Happy 2010 to All!

For most of us, the coming of a new year causes us to think, and make, resolutions in our lives for change.  It may be a change in diet, or a plan to save or earn more money in this coming year.  Whatever your resolution is, I’m sure it is a good one for you! 

What I would ask is that you not only let this be a time for resolutions for your personal future, but also a time to make resolutions about how change can be made in the world to make it better for our children and grandchildren.  Just take a moment to sit back, close your eyes, and imagine in your mind what you would wish for the young and their futures.

I know what I wish.  I wish that they “ALL”  would live long enough to have a future and that’s what I work toward resolving every day!

With the new year just beginning, the facts are that, between the ages of 0 – 25, 14,000 young people will lose their life to a “detectable” and “treatable” cardiac arrhythmia.  Out of those 14,000 deaths, 7,000 deaths occur between the ages of 6 – 18.  That means that just TODAY, no less than 20 children will loose their lives suddenly and unexpectedly to a “silent” killer known as “Cardiac Arrhythmia Syndrome”. Out of those 14,000 deaths, 300 – 400 occur in the public arena; dropping at the finish line, on the basketball court or the hockey rink.  We have all heard of these stories whether in a particular sport, community or even a family you may know.  Unfortunately, because the public deaths are the only ones you may hear of, there are 13,600 other young people who are dying unnoticed; possibly in their sleep, running up the stairs or maybe even sitting in a room watching their favorite television show.  Unthinkable?  YET TRUE!  And it could happen in your own family or that of someone you may know. 

We here at the Cardiac Arrhythmia Syndromes Foundation want to change those statistics, and I am very confident that we will change those statistics through awareness, education and the ability to bring preventive heart screening  (EKG/ECG) programs in schools.  Big things can happen when you have big dreams.  The idea is to not sit idle on those dreams.  ACT on them! 

Think for moment; your heart is your “LIFELINE”.  It is also the lifeline to those thousands of young people out there who count on us to take care of them.  Let your heart health, and that of our young people, be a priority! 

Your heart is also where your deepest and sincerest feelings are kept.  So when you sit back, close your eyes and imagine in your mind what you would wish for the young and their futures, wish them LIFE and, if you can, have the resolve and the spirit to act on it, even if it just means sharing the facts.  The smallest things can make the biggest difference!

Everyone's "Lifeline"

As I shared in my last blog, I lost my father recently, suddenly and very unexpectedly.  Beyond his loss and the grief that so familiarly set in with his passing, I have also been in a state of grief in some other areas of my life.  So I must apologize for taking a somewhat extended stay away from blogging.

One of the qualities that I have come to possess is “strength” in the face of adversity.  It did not come easily, I assure you, nor did I ever imagine I would face the unimaginable in the course of my life either; loosing a precious son too soon.  In these last few weeks, I have found myself again being tested.    Although I have never forgotten one instant, one moment or one day of my son’s life, along with his last moments and last breath on the day of his death, there eventually came a time when it felt safe to put those memories in a “safe deposit box” so to speak in order to be able to move forward; the key that secured the memories – “Strength”.  With my recent loss, that box of memories, especially those of the moments shared between my father and my son, Marc, for that brief moment in time, has been burst open by the flood gates and I again have come face to face with grief, sorrow and sadness that I lived all of those years ago.  Along with that came a profound sense of my own mortality with a recent health scare that, thankfully, turned out to be just that, “a scare”.  

“Grief” is a very powerful emotion.  It wraps its arms around you and can put you in a tailspin and hold you there for a very long time, if not forever, unless or until you decide to make the choice to have your world stop spinning.

I have lost a child!  I still have a very hard time coping with that because I came to know that unbearable grief and sorrow intimately.  I lived that tailspin for a very long time after the loss of my precious son and will forever live with the memory of those last precious, intimate moments I had with him.  After going through every avenue, one of guilt for not being the one to leave this world first, and all the other avenues of grief after facing the reality of it, I eventually made the conscious choice to live in a way that would have made him proud to call me “mom”, and myself proud as a woman, wife and mother to my other children. 

With the loss of other family members, along with the now recent passing of my father, I have become experienced in channels of grief.  What I have come to learn, and what someone brought to my attention again recently is; “If you know someone who tries to drown their sorrows, you might tell them sorrows know how to swim”.  I choose to swim too and not drown.    

 I guess the only thing I’m trying to say here is that, in spite of our sorrow and grief, life does go on with or without us.  Everyone has the right to grieve in their own way and in their own time.  I, personally,  find “purpose” in doing what I do now so that I may help other families and their children be educated and possibly spared from a “detectable” and “treatable” disease  in order for life to go on as normal.  I take extreme pride in my being able to be on this earth and continuously work towards fulfilling the dream of saving other families from the pain, grief, sadness and despair that comes with the loss of a child.

It’s possible! 

None of us are protected from grieving the loss of someone we love at some point in our lives and there is certainly no manual to follow when faced with that loss.  I’m not special in any way because of my experiences and I’m far from perfect; I’m just human with the desire, dream and capability to bring education, awareness, and a “proactive” heart screening initiative known as “SafeBeat”  to young Americans and young athletes in communities across the country.

I took a reprieve to grieve and in this recent loss have quickly come to the realization from past experience that the best way to remember those that have been lost is through “LIFE”. 

 As I was driving home tonight, listening to the country radio station to keep up with what my children are in to, a song came on that seemed so fitting for what I have been going through in recent weeks.  It’s called “I’m Alive”  and the words seemed to sum everything up for me in such a beautiful way.  I share the song, more so the words, with you now with the following link.

http://tinyurl.com/yedsa4q

I am alive and I have been shown, and now have been given a blessed reminder through my father, just how precious life is and how a simple, imperfect, determined soul can make a difference in the world.  For as long as I am blessed to be here, I choose to make “myself” and those who gave me life, share my life, and have gone before me proud.  You, too, can make that difference along with me.  Make “yourself” proud to be alive!

Since my last blog I have been through a myriad of events and emotions; the most significant being the passing of my father.  Although he was in his 80’s, his death was completely unexpected leaving my mother, myself and our family breathless.

I find myself staring grief in the face once again.  Although it is a different grief than the one I experienced from the loss of my son, it is completely familiar; being the suddenness and unexpectedness of it.  As I stood over his hospital bed saying my goodbyes to him I whispered to him to wrap his arms around my son, Marc, and give him a kiss from his mom.  He never let me down before.  I know he didn’t this time either.

THANK YOU!

I don’t have to tell anyone how hard it is to loose someone that you love so dearly.  We all have, or will, experience it throughout our lifetimes.  But because I know so well that overwhelming feeling of grief, sadness and pain from the loss of my son, Marc and now, again so unexpectedly, my father, it is the “REASON” I do what I do. 

This Foundation can, and does, save lives! 

We are focused on saving the lives of the thousands of young athletes, young Americans across this country who loose their lives annually to “detectable” and “treatable” cardiac arrhythmias, leaving their families behind in the wake of grief and pain.  

You, too, can save lives simply by becoming fully informed of the facts, sharing them with others and supporting proactive prevention through EKG/ ECG heart screening.  It may even be the life of your own child, or that of someone you know.

I always knew that my father was proud of me for who I was as a human being.  I will continue to make him proud as a daughter and my son proud as a mother by continuing to “screen hearts and save lives”. 

For some, life has been cut far too short.  For others, there is a chance for life!

Support Preventive Heart Screening including an electrocardiogram (EKG/ ECG).  Give our youth a chance for life!

All you have to do is watch this “ONE” story to have “ONE” good reason to support preventive heart screening, including an electrocardiogram (EKG/ ECG).  As you will hear this doctor say, it is an amazing test that is simple and painless yet it can save the life of a child in minutes.

Logic - It Is All You Need To Save A Life!

The reasons are many and the rewards are priceless as to why preventive heart screening is so important. The many reasons are our children, the future of this country. Young people are being taken in the prime of their life from a silent killer. Families who experience the pain and grief that follows such an event now attempting to be the voice of reason for others.

As a society, we always tend to learn quite quickly after the fact.   But in some instances when logic is put right in front of us, we tend to act as if it weren’t even there.

There is no question that preventive heart screening “saves lives”.   That is the reward.   So why are people not listening or hearing the facts when it comes to sudden cardiac arrest caused by Cardiac Arrhythmia Syndrome(s)? People can no longer pretend that it doesn’t exist or it won’t happen to them or their community. It happens every single day! That is a fact! We need to learn from it. Now is the time, the future depends on it.

A simple, painless test (EKG/ ECG) can save the life of a child, possibly your child or one of someone that you know. Why the resistance? The medical community acknowledges the issue but their hands are tied when it comes to a solution. The standard of care in America today does not allow a preventive heart screening unless, and until, the child exhibits symptoms. Well, in over 80% of the cases, the first symptom is DEATH.

Try to imagine kissing your child goodnight and waking in the morning to find that they suffered sudden cardiac arrest in their sleep caused by a detectable and treatable cardiac arrhythmia. It happens!

There are programs out there, like SafeBeat, that educate, advocate and facilitate preventive heart screening programs. Take advantage of them, learn the facts, LIVE and LIVE WELL!

Even the simplest step of just learning the facts and sharing them with your neighbor or local school can save a life! Don’t wait for a tragedy to happen to your family or to your community before you look up and recognize common sense.  http://www.safebeat.org

As parents, we are always seeking ideas or advise to raise our children right, involve our children in positive activity so trouble does not find them and even look for creative recipes to get them to eat better.  All of the above and much more is a “recipe” to raise our children to be happy, healthy and productive citizens in the future.

What if they went to school one day and their future was jeopardized or ended by “sudden cardiac arrest”?  You may be saying that won’t ever happen or probably asking how that could happen.  Children begin growing and seem to be perfectly healthy and then, without warning, the unthinkable happens.  And unfortunately, it happens all too frequently in this country.  The positive friends they associate themselves with are left standing alone.  That baseball game they were supposed to play in that night never gets played by them.  Even the recipe you were planning to cook for dinner never gets cooked or eaten.   

It’s not something any parent wants to think about or even wants to talk about.  We don’t ever imagine that our children will be taken from us so silently, so randomly, or so unexpectedly.  It is just that “unthinkable”.  But it “is” something we must/ need to think about and begin to talk about just because of the frequency in which it is happening and the devastation it leaves in its wake when an event such as this happens to a family or a community.

As parents, you can begin to think about it and talk about it in a very small way that can make a very “big impact” should a child suffer a “sudden cardiac arrest” outside of the home.

Here are a few questions a parent can/ should ask, and be able to get concise answers to, that could be the difference between “life and death”:

Does the school they attend have an AED?

If they do, where is it located?

Is there a person(s) in the building at all times trained to use it?

Do they keep an AED near or on the field during baseball, football games, etc?

Same goes for dance studios, gyms, anywhere your child would be in the course of their day outside the home?

Do they have emergency procedures when an event of sudden cardiac arrest occurs?

These questions “NEED” to be asked.  Do not take this for granted!  You are ensuring the well being of your child/ children to these institutions and they need to be trusted that they are taking their jobs seriously.

Do not allow yourself, as a parent, to just “see” an AED on the wall and assume that your child is safe.  Ask the questions!!!  It could be the difference between the life and death of your child or the child of someone you know.

RECIPE FOR LIFE!

And when “all” of your questions are satisfied, and as parents you have the opportunity to participate in a “pro-active” preventive heart screening, add that ingredient to your recipe for life!  Then if the ”God-Forbid” were to ever happen in your family or your community, you will know that you did “ALL” that you could toward prevention!