On Jan. 11, 2013, Garrett — a sixth-grade scholar at Immaculate Conception Cathedral School in Lake Charles on the time — challenged his classmate to a race up the varsity’s three flights of stairs. When he reached the highest, he collapsed instantly in entrance of a Saint Therese statue, an sudden sufferer of SCA. Without the fast intervention of his trainer and former nurse Suzy Solari, Garrett by no means would have seen his 14th birthday. Instead, with an computerized exterior defibrillator (AED) on the wall inside two arm’s lengths from the place he fell, Solari carried out cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and shocked Garrett’s coronary heart with the AED, saving his younger life. He traveled by ambulance to a neighborhood hospital, the place he was stabilized earlier than being transferred to Texas Children’s within the Texas Medical Center.
Notably, Garrett by no means skilled a single symptom previous to his cardiac arrest.
“When my husband and I first arrived at the school following Garrett’s cardiac arrest, we watched as paramedics loaded his stretcher into a waiting ambulance,” stated Monique. “Humbled and grateful, we immediately thanked God that his school had an emergency action plan in place — including trained teachers and access to an AED — for just such an unexpected, terrifying event. Our next thought was, ‘We’re taking him straight to Texas Children’s Hospital.'”
Texas Children’s care crew first recognized Garrett with Long QT Syndrome — a uncommon situation that may trigger an irregular heartbeat — when he was 2 years previous. Following Garrett’s near-death expertise as an adolescent, Dr. Jeffrey J. Kim, Director of the Arrhythmia and Pacing (Electrophysiology) Service at Texas Children’s Hospital, and Professor of Pediatrics-Cardiology at Baylor College of Medicine, helped stabilize his coronary heart rhythm and surgically positioned an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) in his younger affected person’s coronary heart to assist forestall future sudden demise occasions.
“I am incredibly grateful for the training and quick thinking of Ms. Solari,” stated Dr. Kim. “Without her awareness of how to respond in this scenario, and her ability to perform CPR and use an AED, the world would’ve lost an incredible young man who has so much to contribute to life.”
Now, with an excellent prognosis, Garrett is a junior on the University of New Orleans, the place he’s pursuing a Master of Fine Arts diploma with the objective of turning into a professor. He continues to return to Texas Children’s each six months to fulfill with Dr. Kim, with whom he shares a particular friendship.
Both Dr. Kim and the Richardson household proceed to collaborate with the Sudden Arrhythmia Syndromes (SADS) Foundation to extend consciousness about SCA and the significance of CPR and AEDs in saving the lives of people with irregular coronary heart rhythms. Dr. Kim, who acquired the primary SADS Foundation Courts Ok. Cleveland Jr. Young Investigator Award in 2008, is organizing the SADS Foundation’s 2022 International Conference for medical professionals at Texas Children’s in November, the place they’ll proceed to coach the subsequent technology of physicians on ailments that trigger sudden demise in kids.
“Genetic cardiac arrhythmias like Long QT Syndrome are among the primary causes of sudden cardiac arrest in young people — but they’re treatable conditions,” stated Alice Lara, President and CEO of the SADS Foundation. “Over 7,000 children and young adults are affected by SCA each year, but with increased access to AEDs and CPR training, sudden cardiac arrest doesn’t have to be fatal.”
For extra information about Texas Children’s Heart Center, please go to https://www.texaschildrens.org/departments/heart-center. For extra information concerning the SADS Foundation, go to http://www.sads.org.
About Texas Children’s Hospital
Texas Children’s Hospital, a not-for-profit well being care group, is dedicated to making a more healthy future for kids and girls all through the worldwide neighborhood by main in affected person care, training and analysis. Consistently ranked as the very best kids’s hospital in Texas, and among the many high within the nation, Texas Children’s has garnered widespread recognition for its experience and breakthroughs in pediatric and girls’s well being. The hospital consists of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute; the Feigin Tower for pediatric analysis; Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, a complete obstetrics/gynecology facility specializing in high-risk births; Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus, a neighborhood hospital in suburban West Houston; and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands, the primary hospital dedicated to kids’s take care of communities north of Houston. The group additionally created Texas Children’s Health Plan, the nation’s first HMO for kids; Texas Children’s Pediatrics, the biggest pediatric major care community within the nation; Texas Children’s Urgent Care clinics specializing in after-hours care tailor-made particularly for kids; and a world well being program that is channeling care to kids and girls everywhere in the world. Texas Children’s Hospital is affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine. For extra information, go to www.texaschildrens.org. Get the newest news by visiting the on-line newsroom and Twitter at twitter.com/texaschildrens.
About the SADS Foundation
The Sudden Arrhythmia Syndromes (SADS) Foundation exists to avoid wasting the lives and help the households of youngsters and younger adults who’re genetically predisposed to sudden demise resulting from coronary heart rhythm abnormalities. For extra information, go to https://www.sads.org.
SOURCE Texas Children’s Hospital
