8News Investigates: Sudden Cardiac Arrest #1 Cause of Teen Athlete Death
It is the Saturday before Thanksgiving 2014. The preparation for Thanksgiving began yesterday as Shannon safely arrived home from Va. Tech for Thanksgiving break. Erin was excited to finish her first week with her own Cardiac patients at her new job at INOVA Fairfax Hospital. Dillon, played in a scrimmage to kick off his last Robinson Varsity basketball season, and Johnny finally arrived home from a week of business travel, from Nashville to Chicago, and then to Tampa. Whirlwind!
But the real excitement yesterday hit our house at 12:00 pm as the Channel 8 News truck arrived lugging large bags filled with commercial grade camera equipment, lights and microphones. Kristin Smith, the news anchor from Richmond, had emailed me last week in search of other organizations in Virginia who have provided free EKG screenings like ours. I told her we were it.
So there she stood in our kitchen yesterday with Abraham Stubblefield the camera-man/producer. She was eager to hear our story after a local family lost their own daughter, Cameron Gallagher, to SCA. Cameron had just completed her first ½ marathon at the Shamrock Va. Beach Marathon in March. She crossed the finish line, collapsed and died.
Despite our ever-present heartache, we shared our story as we have done for 5+ years, eager for viewers to understand how important it is to screen your teen.
Today, as I reflect on last week filled with so much excitement, great energy and endless opportunity, it all revolves around family. So it is not surprising that I consider family as my most precious gift and the part of my life that I am most thankful. As a family who has always been close, we have become even more so with Ryan’s intervention from Heaven. With his daily presence in our lives, he guides us through the process of screening our teens, fundraising and spreading awareness of Sudden Cardiac Arrest. Fortunately for us, the media is recognizing the gravity of this issue, as more and more families experience the painful and unexpected loss of a child to Sudden Cardiac Arrest.
Please share the link below, to continue to ignite the flame of SCA awareness. I am thankful this holiday season for Kristen and Abraham with Channel 8 news Richmond, for giving the Lopynski and Gallagher families the opportunity to share their stories.
Video Courtesy of WRIC News, Copyright 2014 Young Broadcasting of Richmond