A second "thank you" for allowing my second son to participate in the Heart Screening at Susquehanna Twp a few weeks ago. Last week we received the reassuring letter indicating that his EKG was normal. I am always sorry that this great program was born out of your great loss and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to have my sons screened! (My older boy was screened last year).
Interestingly, a few months after my older son had a normal EKG at the screening, he developed dizziness, shortness of breath, etc., during band camp. To make a long story short, he was eventually diagnosed with Orthostatic Hypotension. The workup took about 6 weeks (family doctor, tests including 2 echos, pediatric cardiologist, 30 day event recorder, etc) and of course during that time we were terrified. The only hint of sanity we had during this time was saying to each other "But we just took him to that heart screening in the spring, there was nothing wrong with him then!" We felt good that we had taken that step, and that maybe, possibly, there was nothing seriously wrong with him — so we were thinking about your program from August to October — and we will always be grateful to you for that little bit of peace of mind.
Thank you for all the good work that you do to protect children's health. I will continue to recommend your program to other parents! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
A mom in Cumberland County
April, 2007
p.s. ...my teens would tell you I am overprotective, but when it comes to their health, why not? Don't ever lose your incentive to go forward with this program! I still think this type of screening should be mandatory for school as you originally proposed. Keep up the good work!
This is the first time I have visited your site. My son, Christopher, is twelve years old and just this past Wednesday had a heart catheter ablation at Children's National Medical Center in DC. On March 22, 2007, he entered the nurse's offices at his middle school complaining of chest pains. Very luckily, she knew what to listen for. He was taken by ambulance to our hospital and then helicoptered to CNMC. It took 10 days to get him stabilized on meds so he could come home for a month and the ablation was scheduled. He is fine now with no arrhythmia and a normal heart rate.
Thank God the school nurse caught this in time. We are already planning his next science fair project...promoting EKG's for preteens. FYI, the first full day of hospitalization before the ablation (Tuesday) there was a notice in the Washington Post of a child of 9 yrs that suddenly died while warming up for basketball practice.
Bless you and what you are trying to do. We will try to do our part wherever we go.
Thanks,
T. G.
May, 2007
If you have participated in a Take It To Heart screening event, and would like to post a testimonial on this website, please email: Rhonda@TakeItToHeart.org
Requests to keep certain information anonymous will be honored. We would also appreciate permission to contact you in the future should the media be interested in an interview.
Your testimonial can help save young lives! Thank you!
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