SharonBates
07-25-2005, 10:45 AM
Chicago Daily Herald
July 18, 2005 Monday
All Editions
SECTION: HEALTH & FITNESS; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 770 words
HEADLINE: Victims' families, local hospital push for more screenings
BYLINE: Jamie Sotonoff, Daily Herald Staff Writer
BODY:
When 17-year-old Latrisha Jones of Naperville went in for a physical last
December, her doctor performed all of the usual tests.
He spent a few seconds listening to her heart with a stethoscope.
He checked her reflexes by tapping each knee with a hammer, and he looked
into her ears to make sure everything was normal.
Then the doctor asked Latrisha to do 20 jumping jacks. That's when Latrisha's
mother, Joyce Reeves, got angry and spoke up.
"I kind of looked at (the doctor) and said, 'What is that?' He said, 'We need
to know how her heart is during physical activity and at rest.' And I said, 'No,
you order up a full battery of tests for that,'" Reeves said.
The doctor might not have liked being told what to do, but Reeves knew it was
important to demand more.
Her son, Roosevelt, Latrisha's twin brother, might still be alive today had
he undergone more cardiac testing during his routine physicals.
Roosevelt died last October while playing basketball at Neuqua Valley High
School in Naperville. It wasn't until he had an autopsy that anyone realized he
had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
The disorder - which initially was suspected as the cause of Bulls center
Eddy Curry's irregular heartbeat - causes 90 percent of sudden cardiac deaths in
young athletes. If a doctor had required Roosevelt to have a quick and simple
echocardiogram, the disease could have been detected and treated, his mother
said.
Today, Reeves' crusade is to make sure other parents know what she found out
too late. She is working with Condell Medical Center in Libertyville to educate
people about the benefits of these tests for children, especially those involved
in athletics.
"That's the problem parents face today. We're in the dark until something
happens. My child never complained and said, 'Mom, my heart is hurting,'" Reeves
said.
Even parents who know about the test tend to blow it off, assuming it's
expensive and the odds are low that it will yield troubling results.
Reeves warns it's not worth the gamble.
"Insurance might cover it, and even if it doesn't, parents have to say, 'I
don't care if it costs $300.' Because if you had to choose between your child
and money, which would you choose? I would give away all that I have if I could
have my baby back," she said.
The good news is that the test doesn't have to cost so much. Condell Medical
Center is leading the charge nationwide to provide low-cost echocardiograms to
local students. Through its Heart-to- Heart program, the hospital has worked
with 10 Lake County schools to provide the two-minute, painless, noninvasive
test for around $25 per student. The hospital brings all of the equipment to the
schools and the results are available immediately.
"People ask, can't they wait until there are symptoms to have the test? No.
The first symptom can be sudden death," said Dr. Joel Okner, a Gurnee
cardiologist who heads up the program.
Okner stressed that an echocardiogram - which is different than an
electrocardiogram, or EKG - is the best test for detecting this disease.
Despite efforts to educate the public about the test, most people still don't
realize the importance of an echocardiogram, said Larry Scire, Condell's
director of sports medicine. He's talked to several parents of children who died
suddenly of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and when they realize the test would
have saved their child's life, they all say the same thing: "If we only knew."
"Every student should be getting this done. We think all hospitals should be
doing this in some shape or form. It simply will save lives," Scire said. "The
disease isn't preventable but the outcome is preventable."
Like Reeves, many other parents who have lost children through this condition
are also trying to do what they can to get the word out.
In Geneva, they hold annual fund-raisers for the American Heart Association
in memory of Molly Gott, a 6-year-old who died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
while playing tag with her friends.
And Norma Morley of Buffalo Grove campaigns for a similar cause - making
heart defibrilators available in public places. In 2001, Morley's son, Sean, was
struck in the chest by a baseball and collapsed. The impact of the ball caused
his heartbeat to go into an irregular pattern, and he survived only because a
passerby happened to have a defibrillator in his car.
"It's sort of amazing how people in their grief and loss are willing to
crusade for these causes, because their child is not going to get the benefit,"
Morley said. "We're the lucky ones. I feel that it's my responsibility (to
educate people) now. We're the perfect example of what can happen when things go
right."
LOAD-DATE: July 22, 2005
July 18, 2005 Monday
All Editions
SECTION: HEALTH & FITNESS; Pg. 1
LENGTH: 770 words
HEADLINE: Victims' families, local hospital push for more screenings
BYLINE: Jamie Sotonoff, Daily Herald Staff Writer
BODY:
When 17-year-old Latrisha Jones of Naperville went in for a physical last
December, her doctor performed all of the usual tests.
He spent a few seconds listening to her heart with a stethoscope.
He checked her reflexes by tapping each knee with a hammer, and he looked
into her ears to make sure everything was normal.
Then the doctor asked Latrisha to do 20 jumping jacks. That's when Latrisha's
mother, Joyce Reeves, got angry and spoke up.
"I kind of looked at (the doctor) and said, 'What is that?' He said, 'We need
to know how her heart is during physical activity and at rest.' And I said, 'No,
you order up a full battery of tests for that,'" Reeves said.
The doctor might not have liked being told what to do, but Reeves knew it was
important to demand more.
Her son, Roosevelt, Latrisha's twin brother, might still be alive today had
he undergone more cardiac testing during his routine physicals.
Roosevelt died last October while playing basketball at Neuqua Valley High
School in Naperville. It wasn't until he had an autopsy that anyone realized he
had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
The disorder - which initially was suspected as the cause of Bulls center
Eddy Curry's irregular heartbeat - causes 90 percent of sudden cardiac deaths in
young athletes. If a doctor had required Roosevelt to have a quick and simple
echocardiogram, the disease could have been detected and treated, his mother
said.
Today, Reeves' crusade is to make sure other parents know what she found out
too late. She is working with Condell Medical Center in Libertyville to educate
people about the benefits of these tests for children, especially those involved
in athletics.
"That's the problem parents face today. We're in the dark until something
happens. My child never complained and said, 'Mom, my heart is hurting,'" Reeves
said.
Even parents who know about the test tend to blow it off, assuming it's
expensive and the odds are low that it will yield troubling results.
Reeves warns it's not worth the gamble.
"Insurance might cover it, and even if it doesn't, parents have to say, 'I
don't care if it costs $300.' Because if you had to choose between your child
and money, which would you choose? I would give away all that I have if I could
have my baby back," she said.
The good news is that the test doesn't have to cost so much. Condell Medical
Center is leading the charge nationwide to provide low-cost echocardiograms to
local students. Through its Heart-to- Heart program, the hospital has worked
with 10 Lake County schools to provide the two-minute, painless, noninvasive
test for around $25 per student. The hospital brings all of the equipment to the
schools and the results are available immediately.
"People ask, can't they wait until there are symptoms to have the test? No.
The first symptom can be sudden death," said Dr. Joel Okner, a Gurnee
cardiologist who heads up the program.
Okner stressed that an echocardiogram - which is different than an
electrocardiogram, or EKG - is the best test for detecting this disease.
Despite efforts to educate the public about the test, most people still don't
realize the importance of an echocardiogram, said Larry Scire, Condell's
director of sports medicine. He's talked to several parents of children who died
suddenly of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and when they realize the test would
have saved their child's life, they all say the same thing: "If we only knew."
"Every student should be getting this done. We think all hospitals should be
doing this in some shape or form. It simply will save lives," Scire said. "The
disease isn't preventable but the outcome is preventable."
Like Reeves, many other parents who have lost children through this condition
are also trying to do what they can to get the word out.
In Geneva, they hold annual fund-raisers for the American Heart Association
in memory of Molly Gott, a 6-year-old who died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
while playing tag with her friends.
And Norma Morley of Buffalo Grove campaigns for a similar cause - making
heart defibrilators available in public places. In 2001, Morley's son, Sean, was
struck in the chest by a baseball and collapsed. The impact of the ball caused
his heartbeat to go into an irregular pattern, and he survived only because a
passerby happened to have a defibrillator in his car.
"It's sort of amazing how people in their grief and loss are willing to
crusade for these causes, because their child is not going to get the benefit,"
Morley said. "We're the lucky ones. I feel that it's my responsibility (to
educate people) now. We're the perfect example of what can happen when things go
right."
LOAD-DATE: July 22, 2005