When we hear of sudden cardiac arrest, we rarely think of bulimia.  However, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and bulimia can be a deadly combination.  Read this heartbreaking story of “Sara” (4HCM.org) written by her mother, Miv London, PhD, University of Vermont Counseling Center. 

“On August 3, 2006, my daughter, Sara was exercising on the treadmill in the basement of my home, when she collapsed and died of sudden cardiac arrest.  Sara was 19 years old.  She had been diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy at age 12.  She had been under the regular care of a cardiologist, and over the years had displayed neither symptoms nor risk factors for sudden death.  However, Sara did have a risk factor that most likely contributed to her death.  Sara had an eating disorder.  In her early teens, she had restricted her food intake and lost a significant amount of weight.  More disturbing, at age 16, she began to binge and purge.  She struggled on and off with bulimia for the years leading up to her death.  The most common causes of death for anorexics are starvation, cardiac complications, and suicide.  Bulimia is also dangerous, though  far less lethal in the general population.  However, for HCM patients, the greatest danger of bulimia is dehydration due to frequent vomiting, and subsequent electrolyte imbalance, which can lead to life-threatening arrhythmias.  This is likely what caused Sara’s death.”

Resources for education, information, and advice: www.edreferral.com; www.aafp.org; www.helpguide.org

Zoe’s Kitchen, Arboretum, (next to Gap Kids and Renaissance Hotel) has offered to help us raise money and awareness about our Foundation by offering a $1.00, $5.00 and $10.00 paper “angel” to hang in their restaurant with your name on it.  Make any donation and get a reusable travel cup for $0.99 – FREE REFILLS!

Zoe’s Kitchen offers recipes created from scratch by Zoe Cassimus’ real life kitchen -  a place livened by her love of family and warm hospitality.  Zoe’s offerings are simple, close-to-the-garden ingredients and incredibly delicious!

Championship Hearts Foundation has experienced some of these offerings firsthand.  We have used Zoe’s for our catering needs and our Board Members loved it!  Especially the chocolate cake – just like Grandma’s!

Thank you, Zoe’s Kitchen, for sharing the season spirit by supporting our mission – to reduce cardiovascular disease by offering free heart screenings to student athletes, AED Awareness, and Austin Medical Explorer Post Program.

Titled “Heart scare put lives on new course” written by Madison Park with CNN, dated 12/1/09 – Matt Nader describes the night in 2006 that he “felt as if he had swallowed a grenade.”  Nader suffered from ventricular fibrillation on that balmy night during a high school football game. 

Ventricular fibrillation is really “a muscle twitch” that caused the young lineman to collapse.  His heart stopped pumping.  He was revived on the field, taken to the hospital where a miniature internal defibrillator was implanted into his chest.  That was the good news – he could control the “twitch”; however, his football career was over.  Nader and his family together had to chart a new course for him.  You see, he had already committed and received a football scholarship to University of Texas at Austin.  And that dream of playing in the NFL was gone.  The University of Texas honored his scholarship and he is cheering and helping them with their amazing season – but from the sidelines. 

Matt hopes to get into coaching and sports broadcasting  in the future.  He is also an advocate for legislation that requires AED’s to be available at every Texas school and he also volunteers with the American Heart Association.  Matt and his family have adjusted to their new course, Matt has resigned himself to the fact that there is more to life than football and we are all the better for that. 

To read the entire article, go to:http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/12/01/changes.heart.lifestyle/index.html

Note:  Matt Nader generously donates his time for Championship Hearts Foundation as well.  He is an amazing spokesperson for AED placement and training.